Sunday, December 13, 2009

Being Busy

I just started a large project for a client, but one that involves more than just my labor. I have to direct the efforts of others. As I've mentioned previously, I'm not that good at that. It's just not something I do well without preparation and thought. So in addition to having a lot to do, I also have a lot to worry about.

Also, it means leaving the house during the day to be at the site where this work is occurring. Even when I had an office, my wife was always there with me. It's sort of odd to come home in the evening and see her for the first time that day (I leave the house by 6:45am). It feels odd to bellow "I'm home" without the irony of having seen each other all day.

We've started a diet, and being busy has kept me from straying. There is no readily available source for snacking at the job site, so I'm not having any problems with temptation, plus I'm not really sedentary for the majority of the day like I normally am. I lost 8lbs the first week (I know the first week's loss is always greater than later weeks, but it's hard not to see that as a good sign). I hope it's not setting me up for a false sense of facility with the whole thing. Only time will tell. The culmination of the current job involves a trip to Vegas for two weeks, and I'm not looking forward to the inevitable weight gain. Hopefully the stress and activity level will keep me from backsliding too far. But after the project is over, I'll have to start some sort of exercise program just to keep up.

It's an old axiom that if you want something done, give it to a busy person. Now I'm finding I am a busy person, and it's a little disconcerting. I had been teaching myself animation using Blender, and I had just started getting into it when the project landed. I'll have to reteach myself a lot of the basics all over again. And I had a project going with Filemaker that I will probably not be able to finish till it's all over. So much for relying on the busy person.

At the very least I'm sleeping well at night. I have to, what with getting up at 5:30. Still, I had the time to make this post, so what can I complain about?