A Feeling of Accomplishment!

This was written on Tuesday, January 14, 2014


Today I finished this round of Nerdy Dozen training for my job. It's a chance to investigate various web 2.0 applications and see how they might be  useful to us in our jobs, or to recommend to customers. We have to blog about each topic on the training website, and it has taken me longer to do so this time around than it did the first time out.  I was one of the first to complete the first round of Nerdy Dozen.  That's when I actually did something with my Twitter account, and boy, that has certainly snowballed.  (As has my continued use of Facebook, Pinterest, and my fitness sites.)

I felt like I got a lot done at work, as I finished the last two Nerdy Dozen posts from work for once.  I usually have to complete them at home because there's too much actual work to do at work. ( I find myself writing in comments on people's posts who DO have off-desk time "What is this "off-desk time" you speak of?  I do not know of it.")

...This bit is being added on Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Monday, the plumbers finally got the go ahead from the service line insurance company to do the water leak repair.  My next water bill ought to be considerably lower!  It had been leaking for AWHILE, they said.  I feel like I accomplished something there by being smart enough to buy the coverage when the city informed us that such was available, and for remembering I had when this happened! 

Today has been behaving an awful lot like a Monday even though it is, in fact, Wednesday.  First off, I have a stuffy head, I know not whether it's the insane cedar pollen count, or a cold, but the sinuses are unhappy.  So far (knocking on wood) my voice is not effected,  but that could change if it IS a cold, and a cough develops. 
So, this morning, I was a bit sluggish, and it was hard to get moving.  I DID get my walk done, and I got to the store to pick up some things we needed.  Good thing I decided to go to work a bit early to drop off some stuff I bought for the staff snack stash.  It turns out I was supposed to be in Norman by 1 pm for a training on using our fancy new catalog to its fullest, and I had completely forgotten.  I got there only a few minutes late.  (This is what happens when my schedule does not make it to my phone.  Chaos.)  I got back to work by 3:30, and had to go straight out to the Customer Service Desk.  I hadn't eaten breakfast, or lunch, so I scarfed a granola bar and drank some water before I actually went to the desk.  Everything at work went well, but I felt rushed all day. 
By the way, you should check out our enhanced library catalog.  It's great.  You can choose your search variables, you can even get "read alikes" or "similar authors" for any book by clicking on the "Novel list content" bar at the bottom of each item entry.
Our library catalog is Here. Just type your search term in the box and go.

You will then get a page of results which you can further refine with the choices along the left-hand side of the page.  Really cool.  MUCH better than the old catalog for general use.

We made it to choir rehearsal, where I was once again the lone first soprano.  Only a couple of notes all to myself, but a challenge to find them on pieces we were sight-reading.  Hard to counter the years of habit that say "Follow Lou".   Sunday's anthem was fairly easy to stay with my own note, because it was a very familiar piece.

 On Monday, I was also able to get my voice to work better at higher pitches than it has in the past, leading Karen to believe that it is undergoing some stretching and deepening up there.  (As it should, if I keep practicing.)  I hope that the sinus issues do not turn into a cold, because that will set my vocal work back quite a bit.  It is VERY hard to come back from things like that.

I am about to go and give myself another accomplishment.  I'm going to do an elliptical workout.  Because I need to start doing that every day again.  Because my weight is still not all the way back down to what it was before Thanksgiving and Christmas with all their food showed up.

Aging Brain

Yes, we all have those days, no matter what age we are.  You oversleep because you forgot to set the alarm.  You lose your keys,  you leave the coffee cup on top of the car and drive off.  We can only hope those things don't all happen on the same day. 
Just recently, I myself have done things like put something in the wrong place at work, forget that I had a morning shift instead of the usual afternoon one, and just this evening, I forgot that it was men only night at church choir rehearsal.  No harm done by any of those.  The misplaced item was easily found, I made up the missed hour at work, and an alto in the choir also forgot, so she gave me a ride home so I didn't have to wait until my husband was done with rehearsal. 

The reason we blame these things we do on our age is that well, lots of things are harder than they used to be.  Things hurt that didn't used to, it takes longer to do some things than it used to, in my case, my eyes don't work as well as they used to, and my allergies are worse.  I also have my own private tropical heat wave that follows me around and manifests itself suddenly and usually at very inconvenient times.  (Like when I am sound asleep.)  That is one reason many women my age DO have memory lapses.   Our sleep is disturbed on a regular basis.  This can interfere with a lot of things, especially memory and mental focus. 

Often these days I think my lack of focus is as much due to the fact that I am doing more things now than I have in recent years.  I have additional commitments beyond just work and church.  Matt and I sing in another chorus besides just the church choir now, and I have challenged myself to get certain things done (like writing) that I have neglected in the past.  After "coasting"" for awhile, my brain is not so good at keeping all the little details in order any more.  Guess it's time to start putting stuff on the cell phone calendar again.  At least it will remind me of things.  (Now I just have to remember to put the stuff ON it.  ) 
Here's hoping I get enough sleep tonight to have a functional brain in the morning!

This was a couple of years ago.  Except for the glasses, everything is pretty much the same.