Still Cold

The arctic air mass that descended on Atlanta Saturday night has stayed around past its welcome - it's still freezing out. Despite my furnace's best efforts, the temperature in the house hasn't gotten above 69 degrees Fahrenheit - which means other parts of my house are down in the 50s (heating isn't what my house does best!).

But meanwhile, I've started my new job . . . and so far I'm liking it. The commute is far better, the people cooler, the work more interesting, the environment far friendlier. It's a more intimate, more supportive workplace than I've ever had the pleasure to work in, and the owner is an animal-rescue supporter so we have a half dozen or so cats sharing the office space with us.

My new co-workers are pleasantly eccentric. In addition to all of the cats, today I met a new colleague who looks like the Malcolm McDowell character from "Entourage" and had to first tell me the story of how he got robbed and marooned in Paraguay back in the '70s by a band of grifters posing as gold prospectors before he would give me a file that he wanted me to review. I've always got time to hear a good shanghaied-by-con-men story. I think I'm going to like it there.

But tonight, I'm beat. After my first day of work, I got to open the Zen Center for Monday Night Zazen, and then late at night, well after midnight, I got text messages from a friend who wanted me to talk her out of taking an Ambien to get to sleep. I was glad to help discourage her, but I had to get up early this morning for a pre-work, breakfast meeting with a Georgia Tech professor we've recruited to help the alliance of neighborhood associations prepare a Master Land Use and Transportation Plan. And after that, a second full day of work.

I take on more than I can handle, but isn't that a better way to go through life than leaving things undone? But mainly, I'm still completely cold.