So, I’m a week and a half into a two-week virtual program management workshop.

I genuinely like my co-workers; they’re all decent people from the boss on down, and we’re all working toward making things in our organization work a little better and make a lot more sense. “Drinking from the fire hose” is only to be envied if you’re a contestant in Stanley Spadowski’s Clubhouse in the world of UHF, and I don’t live in that world, so our goal is to make things easier and make more sense.

To do that, we’re spending a couple of weeks figuring out ways to impose order on the chaos that our organization’s culture encourages, and make it easier on all of us; being constantly reactive to interminable chaos isn’t sustainable (the boss and I regularly count “talking the other back from the ledge” as part of our other duties as assigned, and it’s going to drive us both mad before long), and it’s our group’s mission to bury that dysfunction and create some kind of order. If we manage to, it’ll be a decent capstone to both all our careers, and I can do some good without being anyone’s boss, which is kind of also a goal, but we’ll see…

It’s good, valuable work, but as I said earlier, I’m leading things an awful lot, and that’s exhausting, especially when I’ve got a few doctor’s appointments for various things (teeth, sleep, backaches) scheduled. But, we’re getting it all done, and in the end, I think we’ll be able to influence our broken organization at least a little bit, and it’ll carry me forward to the next thing (I’ve got to manage about twelve more years until I get into the retirement zone, and I need a solid project to keep me engaged) and let me notch another win or two before I hang up my CAC card.

But, for the moment, it’s exhausting, especially since I’m also working on making this new house a home and not going mad in the trying.

Speaking of the new place, we spent labor day weekend in the company of our friend Kevin, who helped us sort through a bunch of little projects, including entertainment center set-up, Ikea shopping and assembly, and toilet fixing. Kevin’s a good friend.

I wasn’t at Dragoncon this year, apart from the online Fresh Filks here (at about 42:00, though don’t skip my friends DJ, Summer, or Sunnie also on the bill!), though S&K carried the Humdingers down there for another year, and all seemed to go well. Maybe I’ll be on site again next year, representing the Dragoncon Filk Track, which my friend Amber has run for the last half-decade with great skill and aplomb. I highly recommend digging into the live streams for some solid entertainment.

Otherwise, there’s not been much else, honestly. It’s been work, some fitness outings, the occasional beer at a local watering hole, unpacking boxes, and reading a bit. This is kinda what life looks like right now, and for the foreseeable future.

But, honestly? I’ll take it.