I didn't mean to drop off the face of the Earth this last week of Blaugust, but that seems to have happened. I continued to write daily though, even if just a few words. This is some of those bits pieced together. — The husband has gone to Japan for a few weeks and I've been left to my own devices, which means: I was obsessed with solving this one work problem and then suddenly it was 1 a.m. A mug of hot chocolate for lunch. And a lot of frozen calzones for dinners. Extra sticky cats. Strands of long, black hair everywhere in this bright white, pale birch apartment. I need to vacuum. Where is the vacuum? I broke our oven. — The cats are watching the rain through the balcony door. Me: it's raining Me: the whole world weeps when you aren't here E: i'm here on an adventure on the other side of the world but i just want to talk to you — My latest notebook pages are crinkled from water damage. As it goes, I was showering while I thought up words for my first project update to my manager's manager's manager, who (determines my fate and) has been wondering what I've been up to the last six months. With everyone delivering Claude-generated product knowledge portals and learning management systems and apps on top of our nascent data lake and whatever else, where are my results? Not LLM-generated, unfortunately. I'm here to dissect and burn five layers of mess, not add a sixth layer on top. — It is 12:20 a.m. I should be sleeping, but I'm here, changing my blog's color theme. I've been seeing way too many Claude Design things and can no longer stand my cream background. My legs are unusually sore. Maybe I walked extra fast trying to catch my bus after work. I ended up leaving the office 40 minutes late because my sad little laptop can't keep up and ends up dying dying dying all day long but I still have things to get done. IT ordered me a beefy new laptop; I was so excited, but it arrived dead. I came home to a bowl of freshly-picked tomatoes at my door, such a nice surprise from the MIL. I love these things. I just finished the last bowl she gave me. — If I hear, one more time, "Ask me how long it took to build this," then, without a beat, "Half a day," I will squish things. — Blaugust 22/31