Buzzzzzzzz...

...like a bee, a busy one. Last week was nuts. I put in over 70 hours of work at the office. One day I showed up at 8:15am and didn't leave until 1:30am. Then I drove home and worked some more. The next night, it felt early leaving at 10:30pm. Further complicating things, there was a lot going on at home. R was attending a local conference for a few days and they put her up the swanky Hotel DuPont, despite it being only a few miles from our house. I didn't want to pass up the chance to stay in the 5-star, luxury accommodations, so I joined her there for two nights. There were other surprises last week too, like coming home from work to all of the fire alarms in the house going off at the same time for no reason at all. Then there was the unfortunate news about R's grandpa, as well as the (unrelated) bridge collapse in Minneapolis, both of which weighed heavy on our hearts and minds. With a little finangling, we were able to get R home to Minnesota for the funeral on Friday. I'm glad she was able to attend and say good-bye. I remained here, working away. By Saturday evening I was beyond tired of staring at a computer screen and my body was begging for a bike ride. Hitting the trail (or shoulder of the road, as it was) never felt so good. The cold beer afterwards, too, was appreciated more than usual.

Things have settled down this week, although work is volatile enough to change that in an instant.