Back to Work

I had to get up early in the morning and head over to my brother's house so that I could work there, as the internet connection at the cottage in Kittery was too weak for me to work there. I quickly worked my way through a week's worth of backed-up e-mails, although I had to wonder why on earth HR was sending me my work permit again... Still, it was a nice way to ease back into work, as my sister-in-law left the baby with me, and I spent the first hour of my day checking e-mail with my left-hand, while rubbing the baby's belly with my right hand. She's so cute.

At 10 AM I had to go take a conference call, where my boss went over my annual performance review with me. It was largely positive, although I doubt I'll get the stellar rating I've gotten in years past. I would be absolutely shocked if I got anything other than a "consistent with peer group" rating given how little I've worked this year. Lately it seems that I work about four hours a day, three days a week. In fact it was shocking that the review is so positive at all, with so many "Exceeds Expectations" in there. Obviously, work has very low expectations of me. I'm not sure what to make of that.

At lunchtime, we made our way downtown to meet up with my brother (who was working that day) and a co-worker of his, Ifka, who I had originally been supposed to meet in England last April, except that erupting Icelandic volcano got in the way! It was a nice chat and a pleasant lunch, although it did seem like such a pity that I hadn't been able to take her to my club last April.

After lunch, we went home and I learned from my sister-in-law that my cousin Pete had asked his long-term girlfriend to marry him. (We'd been told that this was his plan several months ago). And she said NO. Oh my gosh, I don't think I've ever heard of something like that happening. First of all, I've never heard of a girl who said no when her boyfriend asked her to marry him, and much less a girl saying no to her boyfriend of several years. In which case you start to wonder, "Why on earth were you dating him for so long in the first place if you didn't want to marry him?"

I just feel terrible for my cousin, although of course I can't say anything, I have to hope that he's up for sharing the news when he's ready. At least I have my sister-in-law to thank for spreading the essential gossip, so that I don't put my foot in it by asking, "So when's the wedding?"

Finally at around 4 PM, we realised that it was time for us all to drive home to New York. I actually ended up doing almost all of the driving, which although tiring was good practice for me, and I felt better about not forcing my parents to drive in some of the heavy traffic we hit in the darkness. Got home around 11 PM, and definitely made a beeline for bed!