My alone times

When the children were younger, I had never quite had time alone. Now as they grow up, get married, go to work, I am getting my fair share of the alone time. Now, I kind of like my alone times.

How did I get to like being alone? I suppose it was just an evolution of being forced to get used to it and to learn to like it. I still remember not too long ago I never felt easy about having to spend the night alone in the house. Now that I am no longer afraid of it, I realized that it feels very empowering. And, my alone times allow me to have control over what I am doing and not having to adapt to other family members.

"Being alone isn't so bad as long as you like your own company."
Byron Pulsifer

Burning the midnight oil!

When I took on this assignment after retirement, it suits me fine because the contract allows me to work from home,only going to the office once a week. The only problem is, occassionally, I am given last minute assignments. Like today, I was asked to write on quite a heavy topic that requires a fair bit of research and to give a briefing to a group on the topic within 3 days. So for the next 2 days and a half it looks like I have to burn the midnight oil.

He who labors diligently need never despair, for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.
- Menander

(Image from cartoonstock.com)

Against all odds

Had dinner and breakfast on the TV couch, glued to CNN. Against all odds, 33 miners were saved after spending 2 months trapped half a mile undergound. What a feat for the rescuers and what a relief for the victims and their families!

So great has been the endurance of these men and so incredible the achievement!

Trapped Chilean miners hours before rescue

Picture of rescue capsule from FOX news

Like millions all over the world I had been anxiously following the news updates for the preparations being made to rescue the Chilean miners, trapped since August 5, about half a mile underground, near the city of Copiapo in Chile. They were detected alive on 22 August. That was when rescue operations frantically started.

After digging a 680-yard (622-meter) tunnel, and drilling through to the miners on Oct. 9, rescue teams are conducting test runs and evaluating the stability of the capsule that will carry the miners to freedom. Each miner is to be slowly brought to the surface individually in the capsule through the narrow, rescue shaft that was completed on October 9. The custom-built rescue capsule was designed through a joint collaboration by NASA engineers and the Chilean navy.

The rescue operation is expected to start at 8 pm (GMT)Tuesday.

I hope all 33 of them will be brought up safely. I think no one can even imagine what ordeal these men had been going through.

Virus attack woes

Last week my computer quitted on me. Some horrible viruses attacked and I had to send it to the professonals to do a rescue job!

Being without the machine was quite bad for me. I had an assignment to do for my client. I had a deadline. I tried to write but a lot of my info and data were in the computer. So what to do? I almost panicked. Fortunately I had saved some of the info in my thumb drive. To fill up the gaps I had to make phone calls and for the first time in many years, visit the local library! Well, after some effort I managed to deliver my assignment on target. Fortunately too for me the assignment wasn't very complicated.

I guess what this whole week without a computer has taught me is that I need to ensure I have systems in place to back up all my data all the time.

This reminded of the time when I started my professional life many years back. Of course back then there were no computers. We wrote volumes of reports by hand or dictated to stenographers who were proficient in shorthand. The stenographers then transcribed the notes using the typewriter. The work actually got typed and re-typed again and again until there were no mistakes. The stenographers used to grumble among themselves when we changed what we originally dictated. With computer technology of course many processes are so much more simplified. But then again haven't we become too dependent on technology?