I still miss you

There are times when no matter how long after you lost someone, you will still think of them and miss them. It has been over three years since I lost my stepfather (popsy) and there are times when it still feels like it was just yesterday. Of course, some people are going to tell you that you just need to move forward and forget, but you can’t forget. When you lose someone that was important in your life, there is always going to be a part of you that remembers them and wishes that you have that little bit more time when them.

There are days on a calendar that make it a little harder to manage the grief, or these are little sounds or images that bring back memories again about that person. Sure, you can always remember the good times that you shared with that person, but then there are those times that the hurt of losing that person seems to be a little harder. No matter what we do, there are going to be times that we will have to deal with the thought of that person not being around to share something with. It can be little, simple things or bigger joys that you wanted to share with them, but you have to manage how to share them in other ways.

Knowing that you have loved someone and have lost that person can be a challenge, but at least you know that they are always going to be there in your heart, and no one can take that away from you. Some people may not understand what you are feeling, but if you know that you are remembering that person in a way that helps you, that is what is important. That person is always going to be a part of you and yes you are going to miss them no matter what and understanding how to manage that feeling is what you must do.

Missing someone that is no longer here because they have passed away doesn’t mean that you won’t miss them. It just means that you are going to miss sharing those personal times together like you did, but you can always remember that there are in your thoughts no matter what. Sure, it’s been over three years and I do miss popsy, but I know that no matter what I have the memories that we shared when he was alive and those memories will always be in my heart.

Apartment life - major renovation

After writing the original post, I have edited it with what else happened in italic.

There are always things that are good and bad about living in an apartment building, and something that is hard to deal with is when there is a major renovation that needs to be completed. The latest in our building is they are replacing the pipes in the various risers in the building. It is something that doesn’t happen very often so that is good but when it does, it can mean some major impact on how you do things, especially when you work from home.

Here are the steps that are involved in replacing the pipes in our riser and the estimated length of time is between 2 and 3 weeks, so yes lots of noise and dust.

1. Remove all the items from around the sinks and from underneath each of them. For us, we have the kitchen sink, and two bathroom sinks, so lots of stuff that needs to find a new home until the work has been completed.
2. Someone will come into your unit and break the wall in each of these cabinets so that the plumbers can have access to the pipes. This means big open holes that let dust and other things into the unit. Our super recommended that we tape bags over these three openings, so that is what we are doing.
1. the building had to shut off the water for the entire building (Wednesday) to replace a value which was a connection to the city water, and it was scheduled from 8-5 or until work was completed. Well, this didn't go as planned, and we ended up being without water for around 20 hours, which wasn't good.
2.  Friday afternoon (around 12:30 pm) there is a knock on the door, and we are notified that there has been a flood in the main bathroom on the 18th floor, and we are on the 10th floor. We clean up the water on the floor and move the rug from the hall, but again not bad, or at least that is what we thought. Well, the water besides coming out the opening of the cabinet also went through the wall and into the closet behind the bathroom which is our main walk-in closet. This results in the water in the closet and getting stuff wet there, and then it goes into the bedroom and soaks our area rug, which we had to move. This issue was discovered around 11 pm when we were getting ready to go to bed. We had to move all the stuff off the floor in our closet and even a few things in our bedroom. We spent some of the weekend cleaning up and trying to figure out if we had lost anything, but after two days of going through stuff, we think we only lost one paperback book.
   
3. The plumber will come into your unit and work on replacing the pipes and shut off valves
1. This was scheduled for the following Tuesday, and it meant that we would have people coming and going for most of the day, which we sort of figured out. Well the water pipes in our kitchen were connected directly to the main line so that meant that they had to also replace our kitchen facet. This was not something that we knew was going to happen, but at least now the facet shouldn't leak.
   
4. After the plumber is finished, someone else will come in and repair the drywall.
1. This work is over two days, so it has been a challenge to get things done with people coming and going for four days straight.
2. The drywall and painting were supposed to happen on a Thursday and a Friday but they informed us on the Thursday that they might not be able to do the paining on Friday so it would happen on the Monday.
   
5. Finally, be able to put everything back under the sinks and clean up all the dust and stuff that has been left behind.
1. After lots of vacuuming and mopping we were able to start to put things back into the cabinets which is good. One thing that I did notice that the space in the cabinet under the sink in the bathrooms has gotten a little smaller because they put an additional layer of drywall on it.
    

So those are the steps that need to be taken to get the new pipes into all the units and besides that it means that given they are working on the pipes there is no hot or cold water on these lines from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm each day until the work is done. We have normal water on the weekends which is good but ensuring we have water to drink is something that we have to remember.

This is something that each of the risers in the building are going to be dealing with, so that means that there is going to be lots of dust and noise involved. At least once our riser is done, we can get everything put back where it belongs and not have to worry about it again, or at least we hope we don’t. So yes, there can be challenges of living in an apartment building, but when things work it is great, and I don’t mind when there are these repairs because it means that the building management cares, and they want to fix something before it becomes a major issue.

 

 

Managing thoughts and ideas

Sometimes it can be such a challenge to figure out how to manage all the various thoughts and ideas that are bouncing around in my head. There are days that I can sit, and the writing flows and everything just seems to get down in writing, and then there are the days when I can’t seem to put words down at all. As someone that enjoys writing, it can be a challenge when I have those days when I just can’t seem to figure out how to capture thoughts.

Here are some ways I have figured out that I use when I just can’t seem to focus on writing:

• Put my ear buds in and not listen to anything, but just enjoy not hearing all the distracting sounds that are normally around me.
• Make quick notes of ideas or thoughts in bullet form.
• Change the location where I am trying to write because that can help a lot.
• Review my blog ideas because that can spark other ideas which help with the writing.
• Do something entirely different for a while so that I am not frustrated that I am not writing.

Sure, some of these ideas are just basic things, but it can make such a big difference with the amount of writing I can achieve. One thing that I do enjoy doing is making sure that I can just sit and relax and get back to the writing after a bit of a break. Understanding how to motivate myself to get back to writing is something that I do need to try and achieve some days because when the writing just doesn’t seem to flow there needs to be methods to getting back to seeing something done.

The other thing that I have found works is having some post-it notes in various spots around home does help as well. It gives me places where I can quickly write down ideas that I either want to do later or ideas of things that I want to write. It can be interesting sometimes when I finally get to look at all the post-it notes because reviewing them can also add to more ideas flowing, which is also good.

Having different methods of managing thoughts and ideas can be very helpful. It can spark some good ideas and then other times you will just see that no matter what the ideas and thoughts are they just going to remain stuck in my head, and they will just have to be managed a different day.

Rebooting and why I should do it

 For a lot of us, having to reboot/restart our computers seems to be such an issue. Why can’t I just leave it turned on for days at a time and even connected to the company for hours and days without anyone complaining.

Here are some of the reasons why we all need to reboot/restart our computers/devices

1. There is a lot of stuff that the computer stores for immediate recall when we are connected (cache)
2. There are patches and/or updates that need a complete shut-down and restart for them to be updated

I have been working with a client and when I talk to them about getting the end users to reboot/restart their devices it seems to be such a challenge. Of course, there are so many reasons why someone cannot reboot their system on a timely basis.

1. I have files open that I need to keep open because I am working on the files (these files are open for hours even when the person isn’t working)
2. My system takes too long to reboot when I do a restart (maybe the issue is you haven’t done restarts lately and there are too many things that need to be updated.)
3. I just don’t have time to do a restart (why not restart your computer at the end of the day, and it will ready when you get back the next business day.)

There are so many reasons why someone will tell you that they cannot reboot/restart their system, and a lot of those reasons are that they just can’t be bothered or there isn’t a reason for them to reboot. In some cases, the reason someone isn’t rebooting/restarting their device in a timely manner is because there is no policy in place that says that all devices must be restarted with x number of days. When a business doesn’t have a policy as to how often machines need to be rebooted/restarted, that doesn’t help at all.

For a business to be successful, and understand the importance of restarting/rebooting each machine is vital. Some users think that either putting their device into hibernation mood/sleep or a system crash means that a computer has rebooted, has completed the task. What people don’t understand is a crash doesn’t mean a total system restart, and putting a computer into hibernation is not a restart.  For a device to work effectively, they need to have total reboot/restart. It doesn’t matter if it is a computer or tablet, they all need that bit of time when they can turn off and restart to clear all the stuff that has been bothering/controlling them.

It is important that we understand that our devices, either a computer or tablet, need a bit of time when they can turn off and refresh. So, yes, it is important that we remember that our devices need a bit of time to sleep, even if it is just for a couple of minutes. It helps them recharge and know that they are ready to go and meet your needs again.

Hotels and requesting feather free rooms

Something that I am noticing happening more and is when you request there be no feathers in your hotel room, hotels tell you that everything is good only for me to get into your room and check the pillows and find out there are feather pillows on the bed.

We have been a regular at the Residence Inn by Marriott and quite often even after confirming with the front desk at check in that the room is feather free, we get into our room and at least half of the pillows have feathers. It is rather frustrating given that we are not just walking into a hotel and checking for a room, we have made a reservation quite a few days before.

This last time was during a work trip, and we asked at the front desk if everything was good, and they again confirmed it was, and again the feather room didn’t happen, so I quickly phoned down, and we ended up being moved to another room. It is so frustrating that this keeps happening because you think a little request such as no feather pillows would be something that would be easily accommodated.

In March, we travelled to Las Vegas for a vacation and when we were checking into the hotel, we confirmed that our room was feather free and the reply was something that amazed me. The staff let us know that the entire hotel was feather free, so that shouldn't be an issue at all. Even guests that request feather pillows, they are declined, so that the hotel remains feather free. It was such a nice experience to have that happen. The hotel that we stayed at in Las Vegas was The Linq Hotel and Casino, right on the strip.

We did have a similar experience in a hotel in downtown Toronto, and it was the Sheraton Centre, and they have entire floors that are feather free, so that is also nice. It is something that I think more hotels should try and do because having either the entire hotel or at least some floors that don’t have feather pillows in any of the rooms makes it a nice experience for those that cannot breathe due to feathers.

So hopefully hotels will learn that to keep guests returning to their hotels you have to ensure that the guests have a good experience from the moment they enter the hotel through to the time they check out.  If someone has any ideas how we can get more hotels to think about having designated feather free rooms, let’s start a discussion about this.