Spread Thin

It's been a pretty damn challenging week.

Following all of the stressful events of last week, Miranda and I decided on Saturday to head down to Canyon Lake to see a bunch of our friends and classmates test for stripes on their red belts. It was a rough test -- a number of folks froze up, or worse yet arrived unprepared -- and as a result it kind of dragged on. Miranda was oddly subdued, too -- hanging out in the back room of the dojang watching TV rather than playing, and complaining of a headache. However, once it wrapped up we had a BBQ and she seemed to perk up. Once we got in the car to head home, though, she conked right out, and by the time we arrived home she was getting warm. By the next morning she was running a 103 degree fever, and Monday she was diagnosed with a nice case of the flu.

So she's been home all week. Luckily, her fever has responded nicely to the good ol' alternating acetaminophen/ibuprofen dance and otherwise her only symptoms have been a nagging cough. So she's more bored and sleepy than anything else. However, because she was home with the flu Christine couldn't do any of the school drop-off for Trevor nor any of her other usual tasks that she takes care of at the school, and instead it all fell to me, which did a terrific job of nixing my entire week of gym workouts and also got me into the office an hour earlier than usual every day.

Now, sometimes that wouldn't be a bad thing. Getting in early when things are busy can really pay off. It looks good, and I tend to get more done in that first hour or so when no one else is around than when people are popping by and hitting me with questions left and right. But considering the recent lemming-like stampede for the exit that was staged by the managers and architects, the atmosphere at work isn't exactly conducive to calm reflection or productive efforts.

Quite the opposite, actually.

So, the extra time in the office has had a pretty negative effect. I'm spending a lot of time contemplating what to do next, getting alternately depressed and angry, and then reiging myself in rather than sitting and dwelling on things I can't control right now. I'm really trying to help maintain some calm around this place, but after over a week of no info I'm just disgusted and annoyed with the whole mess. So instead I'm sort of biting my lip and holding out until I head home, saving the frustration for channeling into my dojang time. This mostly works -- actually, I had one of the best classes I've had in a while last night -- but it's still something of a Band Aid solution. The situation at work isn't getting any better just yet, so as a result it's a daily problem to be dealt with. And since I'm not training tonight (unlike every other night this week. And last Saturday. And Monday through Thursday last week, to...) I was already worried about the stress buildup effect.

And now, to top things off, Christine seems to have caught the flu as well. Running a 101-102 degree fever. Coughing. Splitting headache. So yeah, now next week will very likely be a carbon copy of this week, with me running the kids all over the place, cramming in some time at work (including my annual evaluation with my manager, when I will likely lay out my terms for remaining with the company for anything longer than the next few months), trying to keep up with my training in preparation for testing at the end of this month, plus with the added bonus of trying to take care of my sick wife as well. All the while hopefully not getting sick, myself.

Scientists really need to make some progress on that cloning stuff sometime soon. Either that, or figure out how to make time travel work. I'm rapidly running out of "me" to go around.

Mood: Stressed
Now Playing: Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"