I'll eventually remember it's not on the left
Jen had a dentist appointment this am and I ended up taking Scottie for his am walk and, uh, "constitutional" (whatever the heck that means). A few houses away, while continuing to resist, watching and waiting for the one that feeds him to come with us, we simultaneously caught site of Oreo. The neighbor's cat. Oreo strolled with feline arrogance along their driveway and into the shrubs between the home where she has established a routine presence. Just moments after this an unknowing squirrel bounded across our driveway in interval hops and went directly onto the small border against the shrub. It bounded back out at the same tempo it bounded into it, but then scurried quickly away as Oreo's head popped up and out, fixed in place as he tried to make sense of what just occurred while coming to grips with the realization of the opportunity he'd just lost. I spent AM working and focused on closing a few key tasks before taking the afternoon off. And tomorrow. I'm still managing my PTO balance with a strong eye on ensuring I maintain the maximum while not losing any time due to 'overage' of accrual. I used the afternoon to futz about on a few random tasks, run and drop Tommy at ExtraHours, and while driving afterwards, calling Lauren's eye doctor in Stanford in order to coordinate a 'virtual' consultation to discuss Lauren's vision and driving options. Lauren's ask for my help because she feels like her mom's concluded it's a non-starter and I want to get direct input as to what, if any, accommodations can be made for her. It might be just a validation of what her mom's basing her conclusions on, or not, but either way this becomes a conversation that Lauren will really 'own' in order to take further control over her life as she approaches 18. I'll be there to ask my own questions and support her. She's concerned her mom will be upset but I think this is a reasonable step to take. I bought a ticket for a live stream fundraiser event celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Rent" on March 2nd. For $25, if this provides some economic relief and encourages live stream performances, i'm in. Lauren and I have already come up with a theater-based meal plan including a loaf of stolen bread, mini-pies, gruel, "beef ragout, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding, en flambé", 2 pints of Sam Adams… stuff like that. Oh, and today I learned that "Ghrelin" is a hormone that can be imbalanced, and because it stimulates appetite, increases food intake and promotes fat storage, it's a possible medical explanation for extreme obesity. Fascinating.