Calculations and Planning

I'm a planner. Anyone who knows me should know this. Some of you have experienced my need for plans first-hand (you know I'm first thinking of you, Fox!). It doesn't mean things can't happen last-minute (consider this year's day at King's Dominion or my first trip to Boise), but some things need to be planned. And, amid a busy schedule, they really need to be planned.

It's only Wednesday, and my thoughts are settling on this weekend. I will hold out and tell you about those plans tomorrow or Friday. After the weekend is also slightly plan-less, though I'm hoping a couple things might work out. I've already taken off the first three days of the week, and Hedwig the car has an appointment for new breaks on Monday. So, during this time, maybe Han can visit again. Or, maybe Phoenix and I can go hiking, or to Luray (which I'd really like to see again, it's been a while). If I can find someone to come along, I'd like to try to go to the Melting Pot, maybe Tuesday night or on my actual birthday. That one is just a thought.

I took a tiny bit of time last night to calculate how much PTO I have, how much I will get, how much I will use, and how much I will have left over by the end of the year. I need five more days off between now and then in order to not lose any PTO hours. So, I'm going to call Turtle tonight and see if she can foresee any days off she'll have in November or early December so I can take some time to visit her. Or, maybe she could even come visit me. That would be nice too. I haven't seen Turtle in ages, and we have such conflicting schedules that talking on the phone, or even IM, is difficult. I miss her.

The other day, Han told me that I was not an awful friend because I never talk to Turtle anymore. It's just scheduling conflicts. He's right, but I think part of it is that I take Turtle for granted. We can live a hundred miles apart, and I know our friendship won't change. It's a testament to the wonderful and special person that she is, and the strength of our long-established friendship. I have another friendship that's like that (she needs a name here, I think). I've talked about her before, I met her in fourth grade and quite a lot of vast distances haven’t dimmed our relationship over the years. She brought me this awesome deck of cards from her honeymoon in Iceland (if only I could read Icelandic!). Truly, I can do more to keep in touch with both of them and let them know how important they are to me.

So, Turtle will get a call tonight so we can work out a visit in the near future. She and I both have new places to live, so we do need to do some cross-visiting. If nothing else, I need that girl's address! I think I'm going to call that other friend too. I need her address as well. And I have some letters and thank-yous to write to my family. I have a lot to do tonight!

To top everything off, I've been officially pulled off of the overtime project that I've been working on since August to work on something for my own department, still in overtime. I'm not sure I'll get all my phone calls done today, but Turtle is at the top of the list.

Lots to do!