Perpetual Ruminations

Tuesday

Tuesday, April 1, even though the date here will say this was posted on the second. It's only 11:24 here in South Dakota and that's no fooling. I know, bad pun; April 1, Fool's Day -- no fooling... Oh forget it then.

Seriously, this entry is written on time and posted here, on time. I wrote it in 750 Words, then copied and pasted it here with just over a half an hour to spare. Not a lot of room, but it's enough. I would also like to add, that I did complete the monthly challenge in 750 Words for March, too.

Now, here's today's entry:

Time slipped and now the day is almost over and I just about didn't make it in here today. I don't know how else to explain it, except that time slipped, and the day is ending way before it should. The whole day has been like this, and every time I've looked at the clock, it's hours later than it suppose to be. Why? I have no idea, it just works that way sometimes.

Today was my first day off for the week, and a good day. The weather was terrible yesterday, and we had a blizzard yesterday evening and into the early hours of the morning. But, even though the opening guard could not make it in for work this morning, he called late yesterday afternoon, after waiting to see what the weather would do. Once he was sure he would not be able to get in to work, he called, and instead of taking the whole day off, he just wanted to switch and work in the afternoon. This freed up the afternoon guard to work the morning and he agreed to this. So, for the first time since I've been the supervisor, I had bad weather hit, someone call in, and did not have to cover the shift myself.

Then, early this morning the wind calmed and the blizzard ended. Possibly in time for the opening guard to have made it, but then again, the roads would have still been coated in snow over a layer of ice, with some pretty good sized drifts here and there. So, know the roads he has to drive, I kind of doubt it. But, the snow ended yesterday evening, although it was blowing so hard it was difficult to tell exactly when. The wind died early this morning, and we didn't get the foot of snow they said we could have. In fact, we didn't get nearly as much as even the most conservative forecasts predicted. We did get some small drifts, but they will melt soon enough and hopefully we can now have our spring.

Spring weather or winter, it was a nice day off. I slept in, then got up and enjoyed some coffee. After, I installed a program I found online that has something similar to widgets, but they are all through open source programming. There are many of these available, much like apps in the Windows app store, or like the widgets where when Windows 7 came out. The only difference is the program needed to run them, Rainmeter. Of course, like some of the other open source and freeware, there is a risk of virus and other malware. But, one site provides only items created by them, and another scans anything submitted for distribution to ensure it's malware free.

There was quite a bit to read through and learn to use the program and it's applications, but nothing real difficult. There are some basic programming choices to alter things, as well as options, and I searched for items with the options since I don't know much about any programming. But, the manual was very helpful and even guided me through a few of the areas of light programming. In time, I would like to delve in deeper to the codes and programming, since it's open to change and looks like it would be kind of enjoyable.

The only downside was the fact that it took a lot of time to go through the manual and to learn how everything works. I also helped Rhonda a bit, and we did get a nice Bible study in, but other than that, I spent a great deal of the day reading and applying information on Rainmeter. Of course, the fact that I didn't notice how late it was, or how many hours I committed to this means I must have been both very absorbed and enjoying myself. It has been a long time since I have let myself become so absorbed in anything other than some of my tasks for work. And, that is without choice, whereas this was completely by choice, and based fully on my enjoyment of what I was doing.

It felt good to get deeply involved in something I was enjoying and not fret over what I should be doing, or trying to rush so I could get on to other things. Even though I knew the day was slipping away, I could enjoy carefree my time and effort in this. I will have to write out my end of month report, and there are some things I need to do for work, but they are kind of on the back burner and enjoyment and relaxing are the higher priority for my three days off this week. I will get the things done I need to do, and I still plan on spending some time writing something. I'm thinking I will commit to a poem, but I'm not totally sure yet. I just know I wanted to create something last week and it did not pan out for me. So, I listed the same goal for this week and plan on succeeding this time around. Short story or poem is the idea, but anything written would suffice, with only one requirement, it has to be new, not something I have already started.

Now, since the time is different, it's an hour earlier here in South Dakota, this post will reflect Wednesday's date, but it was written in 750 Words on Tuesday, April 1. Fitting, since this is April Fools Day.