I just watched a kid from a house up the street come out his front door, run past two houses, drop something from his pocket, run back to get it, run back to where he'd orginally gotten before he dropped the thing, stop and look at the grass for a second, then turn around and run back home and into his house.

That's sums up nicely how I've been feeling today.

There is so much to get done before our trip out west on Thursday. I know some things will have to be sacrificed (most likely the bulk of the housecleaning) in favor of trying to get caught up at work (yeah, right) before my 3 days off. All day long it's been thing after unexpected thing to deal with, so the list I dutifully created this morning has yet to gain my attention.

Just a few hours after we arrive in California, I will be going into the office where I'll have my annual review. I'm nervous about this not because I feel they're unhappy with me or this "work at home 3000 miles away" set up, but because they're being so FORMAL about it all. Last year, my boss and I went to the neighboring park, sat on a park bench, talked about work, and called it my review. This year, I had to schedule the review, fill out a 3-page SELF-EVALUATION, and endure whatever constructive criticism they will throw my way once I get there.

I'm also going to propose they open an office out here, and I'm nervous about that. I'm not sure whether I'm more nervous about them saying NO to the idea or them saying YES. Both scare me to varying degrees.

You know what part of the trip I'm most looking forward to? The flight. Five (hopefully) uninterrupted hours of downtime sounds soooo good.