My day started off with a nice affirmation in my inbox from my boss. She had sent me (yesterday before going to Mitch’s with the group) a copy of the framework of my work plan (described below) to review, and in the email she said, “Thanks in advance for all you’ve done to ‘advance the goals of OIT and NC State’—and frankly for making it way more fun (for me, and others) to come to work.” Heart-warming.
I walked down to the Dunkin’ Donuts near my work this morning for a cup of coffee and to use a $.99 coupon for their “Multigrain Bagel with Light Cream Cheese.”
On the way, there was a lady sitting in front of Reverie coffeeshop who started laughing as I walked up. “I’m not laughing at you,” she said. “I’m laughing at your shirt. It’s very funny.”
A little further down the road, a lady coming in the other direction said, “I love your shirt.”
And, no, those aren’t my biceps. I got them on the Internet. 
So many stones being cast—on both “sides.”
So much vitriol in the name of God, Christ, Jesus, and the bible.
My boss and I reviewed my “work plan” today, which is a required document by the State for performance reviewing. I very much appreciated her commitment to making it, at once, a document that:
- Satisfies the State’s requirement
- Accurately reflects my contributions
- Encourages me to do work that I like to do, and therefore do well
- Aligns our department’s work with the goals of the organization
- And includes an element of helping to make the workplace a thriving, fun, and affirming place to be
Trust me, that is no easy feat with said document.
We started reviewing the document—just its make-up, not the actual assessment of how I’ve done against it so far—at 11:00, and then took it to lunch with us to finish it up.
We ate at the Pakistani place that’s in the back of GoPaks Bazaar convenience store, and I had their Kabob Wrap, which was out of this freaking world—on the hot side, which I love. Jude got one of their platters, which are huge, and I had tastes of things off it—some of the chili (no beans!), some rice, and three-fourths of the nan bread that came with it. The bread was so incredibly soft and most delicious.
At some point during the day, I went to Jude’s office to ask her a question, and I startled her at her office door with my greeting. So, the next time I had to ask her a question, I just stood in front of her door until she noticed that I was there.
On her way out for the weekend, she stopped by my office and said, “I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re a very kind person.”
“Oh?” I said.
“Yes, for taking such care not to startle me when you come to my office now. Other people have thought it kind of funny that I can be easily startled, or don’t change their behavior after knowing it. And I appreciate that you did.”
Quite the affirming day today, in many respects. This can’t keep up, as there is already not enough characters allowed in Livejournal’s IDs to accommodate the second “f” in “affirmation,” much less to try and add the word “Multiple” in front of it and an “s” on the end.
Just before I left work, my sister called to tell me that my dad was back in the hospital—this time suffering a stroke. Things are definitely on the downhill slide with him. 
He was, once again, at the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital, but they were getting ready to transport him to Pitt Memorial Hospital, which is good, because that’s in Greenville where my sister lives.
At the time, his vitals were all stable, and he could understand, but he was totally frustrated because he was unable to speak, and when he tried to write his thoughts instead, they all came out jumbled on paper, too.
She is going to meet them when they arrive at Pitt, and call with an update for me tomorrow. Currently, I’m planning to go to Greenville on Sunday.
At home, I went to bed at about 8:30 and slept through the night—intermittently.