The last few days have been more of a blur than anything else. I locked in on a couple of projects and time passed without my permission. It is amazing what locking in with a single minded purpose does to your days. Completing a major objective always generates a certain degree of excitement. Sometimes you have time to celebrate. Sometimes you do not. Those are the times where a flood of emotions from one thing end up comingled with the next thing. That situation is always interesting. Not every project is positive and uplifting. It is always hard to transition between the two.
Managing multiple projects at the same time is about switching gears. I have had to learn to put things down and pick them up. You cannot approach things with a blank slate. You have to be up to speed on every project and be able to seamlessly move between them. Solid project plans and documentation tend to make that easier. Sometimes that level of detail is easier to achieve than others.
John Paul loved the snow that dropped on Denver this weekend. I was a little worried that my flight to Tampa might be cancelled this week. John Paul was worried about sledding and snowmen. It is funny how different perspectives can be on the same snowstorm. I’m pretty sure at some point in the next few days a sled will be purchased. It seems to be the right move. We had tried to buy a sled at Target, but the seasonal display had changed to spring décor.
I spent all morning reading articles about how the snowstorm was causing Denver flights to be cancelled. The roads were pretty much clear by the time that it was time to drive to the airport. Denver maintenance crews seem to know how to manage inclement weather.
My last Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Denver had a terrible internet connection. It was 4 hours of unexpected isolation. It was frustrating. I ended up watching the Big Bang Theory, the last episode of Two and a Half Men, and some Odd Couple reboot. In terms of productivity, the flight was a terrible experience. I could not sleep, but I was so worn down that I could not bring myself to write.
That gap translated to a few days of lost focus. I worked on projects, but none of them were publishable online. That happens from time to time. I have been working diligently to produce a few words of publishable prose each day. 2015 has been a pretty good year for writing so far. I plan to get back on track this week.
I was surprised that Southwest Airlines does not offer live access to ABC or ESPN during the flight. The only reason I noticed was during an attempt to watch the Oscar’s. I had thought it would be fun to watch NPH. That plan did not work.
During my flight I watched a high school student reproduce math homework by hand on paper based on some photos on a smartphone. Cheating at schoolwork is at an entirely different level. Digital photography was relatively new when I went to school. I could have imagined somebody recreating a math assignment from a photocopy. The idea of sharing homework in real time via photos on a smartphone is relatively new. It must be hard to teach high school these days. Every assignment I grade online runs through a plagiarism detection tool. That makes it harder to cheat. I wish that meant that it prevented cheating, but it still happens a couple times each quarter.
