A Mid-Week Test

If I was going to be tested this week, today would be the day. I was supposed to be at the FRB like I am usually now on Wednesdays. And so I actually wanted to get there before 9 AM because there was a meeting at 9 AM and then a Director's Meeting at 10 AM. I figured I'd get dressed before dropping Johnnie off and then take off to DTLA from there. It was weird being dressed while standing there with Johnnie while he was getting in line. Usually I'm in my shorts and Tshirt. Not that anyone isn't dressed for work, just not me. So that was my early morning oddity. I did get to work before 9 AM and actually had myself a mint green tea and got myself fully set up in prep for the meeting. It was about a new benefit called ClassPass and in the end it took all of 20 minutes. And then after that, the Director's Meeting did take an hour but it was more like a conversation with my fellow directors. Anne wasn't there who was supposed to show us some P&L data and Starlette wasn't there who would be taking about Project Charters and stuff like that. I have to keep from rolling my eyes when listening to her. I used to be that guy who would push for a more formal project management framework. But it has never worked. We simply do not have the discipline, and we lack the energy to maintain such discipline. So there's that. But I'm not going to be the one to dull someone's energy. Already she gets on my nerves going right to me instead of the Data Team when asking for a report. Her latest one ended up on James' lap and we even did talk about it at the Data Team meeting today. James, as he always does, says its ready. She then said later on she was still waiting for it. And so I had to prod and push James into getting it done ahead of his timeline. In the end, he did get it done and submitted, I looked good because it looked like I tried to help and that was the end of that. The good thing about today at the FRB was that I got a really good workout in. All of 20 minutes to do 100+ reps for my upper body and arms. And then I went to Chipotle for lunch afterwards. No useless conversation with the Finance folks. I needed some alone time, enjoying the warmth outside and the view from my seat (see pic) while having my garlic steak over rice.

As it was I had to stay until almost 2 PM today because of a cybersecurity incident at Ochin I needed to watch the briefing on. Anyway, none of the above would qualify as a mid-week test. That would come later on when we went to Lisa's office for the Spanish class. First of all, there was no Spanish class today because I had misinterpreted Hayil's email message wanting to move the class to friday. She meant today's class, not tomorrow's class. Oh well. We still got to Lisa's by 5 PM and when we got there, there was Jorge working on Lisa's computers. Apparently her email system was out of whack, because she had to convert to Microsoft 365, a level higher than the Microsoft Business Basic Plan I had her on for many many years. Jorge managed to fix it by buying licenses. And now he was hungry and asked to be included for dinner. That made me relieved because it meant at least that Lisa WOULD be going to dinner, and at a reasonable hour. That definition of reasonable hour was at Lisa's discretion though and today, it meant 6:30 PM. Yes, we still had to wait. I still had to do whatever I could mentally to keep myself from getting irritated, reminding myself that it's ok to feel anger and let it through and get it processed rather than holding it in. I can't believe they couldn't see Johnnie running around trying to expel his own energy. We ended up going to Maria's. And Johnnie ended up having lasagna and I had spaghetti and meatballs. Needless to say, I carbo'd out tonight. But the lesson wasn't really about dealing with Lisa today, though Lisa being Lisa was lesson enough. The lesson was a joke we played on Johnnie. We told the waiter he needed to wash dishes to pay the bill. And that he could work overnight if need be and we would pick him up in the morning. He took it seriously. Boy did he ever. As in he started to cry and took a minute to get him to stop and realize it was just a joke. NOW we felt bad. I didn't realize that THAT was still a bit of a flash point for Johnnie and that fear of abandonment was that REAL. Why would he think we would ever abandon him? When I asked him later, he brought on the latest example of being left at school with Ms Cardona just this past Monday last week when Lisa and I crossed our communication with when to pick him up. Damn. I had to spend the rest of the night reassuring him that NEVER would I leave him alone like that.  I would always come for him. No matter what.  I hope it sunk in. And then I asked for forgiveness. HIS forgiveness. I hope we didn't just plant an errant program in his subconscious. I will simply have to reinforce that "We will always be there for you" program then. Wow.