Started Typing: 1:26 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 3:15 PM ET
The boss is back in town!
No, not Springsteen; my boss. 
Last night he and his wife finally made it back to the DC area from Houston, where they’d been stuck since Sunday because of the hurricane. He’s back at work today and has been digging through a mountain of emails; I was able to give him a quick rundown of the things our customer asked me about this week that he might hear about.
So, our customer is now able to bug him again instead of me, but – in some kinda crazy timing – this morning my grandboss (my boss’s boss, who used to be the program manager/my boss) asked if I’d help lead a proposal section that’s due at the end of the month…and also lead part 2 of the same response, which doesn’t have a due date yet. After asking her a few questions I determined that it’s not a huge lift, and it’ll get me involved with the type of proposal support I’d rather provide*, so I said yes. The customer just issued the request for proposals yesterday; the kickoff meeting is tomorrow morning.
That’ll keep me off the streets for a while. 
*I’m gonna go all doggio and talk as if this will make sense to anyone else: despite a decade as a prop manager (partly with this company) and a prop writer (before I joined this company), since leaving BD for project management 4.5 years ago my prop support has been mostly writing resumes and past performance volumes. I hate doing resumes and PP (they’re entry-level prop writer tasks…I have soooo already paid those dues!!!), but I enjoy leading/am more than qualified to lead management volumes, so I’ve been trying to work my way into mgmt volume lead roles. I’ll have that role when my own contract is up for recompete later this year, but helping with this new prop will let me prove myself in that capacity a little sooner. The company knows me as a prop manager but most prop managers were never prop writers (let alone volume leads), so I’m still showing folks that I can do that part (and do it well).
In other news, we are finally getting a break from the humidity and triple-digit temps! There was a brief thunderstorm last evening: not as big as I would have liked, but enough that when I took the dog out at 7:30am it was only 72°F and not humid (and with a light breeze). I actually turned the a/c off, and had the windows open until lunchtime! It feels like months since I’ve been able to do that! Today’s forecasted high is only 90; right now (2pm) it’s only 87. I did have to turn the a/c back on about an hour ago, when the sun started hitting the front of the house, but it’s been sooo nice to not have to set the thermostat to 75 in order to keep the old heat pump from being overtaxed (it has run like a champ for the past 10 years, but I feel like it’s only a matter of time…another week like the one we just had could do it if I’m not careful).
I can’t believe my show is a week from today already! The next few days/this weekend will go by fast. 
It was! The only mildly annoying thing now is that the cool “tile” flooring is no longer visible at all. But I know it’s in there, and I have pictures for proof. 
Metal Mouse beat you to that joke on Saturday (and Husband BFF beat him to it on Thursday).
Very cool! Especially the Yellow Submarine: I’m a huge Beatles fan, and need to keep an eye out for that set. I also want to keep an eye out for the Beatles “art” set. In early June, a used Lego sales/trading store opened not far from me…I really need to get out there!
My list is in assembly order (I tried to include links to the completed set pics, but Imgbb is having a conniption):
- 2023
- Jazz Quartet
- Eiffel Tower (discontinued [the small one])
- Fallingwater (discontinued)
- The Starry Night
- Dried Flower Centerpiece
- Santa’s Sleigh
- Christmas Wreath
- Christmas Tree
- 2024
- Jazz Club
- Fender Stratocaster
- Corvette
- Grand Piano
- R2-D2
- The Globe
- Retro Radio
- Notre-Dame de Paris
Now that I look at the list, I guess there’s a bit of a music theme in there (especially this year’s builds). 
I have no unassembled sets at the moment. Mine don’t tend to sit around for long, because I usually order them when I’m ready to start them (or will be ready to start them soon). The longest I’ve had a set sit around was just over a month: at the end of last year I knew I’d be ordering the jazz club, and also knew I wanted to start it in January. When I was on the Lego site in mid-November I saw that the jazz club was backordered and not shipping until February, so I ordered it then…and it wound up arriving right after Thanksgiving. I only have one table, and I use it to hold decorations during the holidays, so I had to wait until I un-decorated to start building that one.
My Lego habit is all my “nephew’s” fault (my BFFs’ son)… 
Yes! And, something that took me forever to learn: longer commutes can be worth it. IOW, after several years I finally stopped “following” my jobs. It’s much less of a thing these days, when telework is so routine, but it took years to realize that living near where I “play” (i.e., DC) is way more important to me than living near where I work.
I tried giving carrots to Bailey a couple of times: she loved playing with them, but never actually ate them. I just wound up cleaning up shredded carrot.
Ha!
Rearranging furniture is what I do when I’m feeling the need for change but can’t afford – or don’t want – to move. My mother used to tease me about how my apartments looked different every time she visited. Significant rearranging in my current house is challenging, because it’s small and there aren’t many options, but every now and then I find a way to make some changes. I enjoy figuring out how to display my Lego sets once they’re done, because it usually involves moving them – and other things – around; that’s often enough to get ahead of the “change something!!1!” itch.
