Minor rant and other Tuesday twaddle

Cubicles and writing aren't the most compatible mix so working at home is a very good option for tech writing.

On my make the commute days there was a time when an early in and early out schedule gave me at least some quiet time during the work day before the rest of the group arrived. When that scheme failed, I shifted to a late in and late out schedule but that didn't work out any better. It seems that regardless of what I try there's a loud crowd and most of the time it isn't a collaborative work related din

In recent years, the cubicles have shrunk so proximity is even more of a problem/issue when you combine that with the shrink in work at home flexibility, sometimes I wonder how I get anything done or how much more I could get done without all the distractions.

In a perfect world the cubicle shrinkage would have meant that people would use their "inside voice" more often than not but my world is pretty far from perfect. I know way more about the personal lives of my co-workers than I would choose.

When I work at home it is an early in and early done sort of schedule as the time I'd usually spend getting ready for work is converted into actual work time and I can get other personal stuff done without broadcasting it or appearing to be slacking.

My "lunch" break today involved emptying the van of the recyclables so I could offer to ferry some of the co-workers to a birthday lunch the next day and a side trip to Cost Plus World Market.

On Saturday I'd stopped into Cost Plus Worldmarket during walkabout.

The over sized PVC totes (regularly 19.99 on sale for 9.99) caught my eye. At 17 inches tall and 18.5 inches in diameter at the widest point these are great as a great option for stowing recyclables, STASH and laundry.

They are not, however, a good carry the 4 miles or so walk home so I passed on the purchase but made a note to check the RB store after work on Monday.

RB had none. A call to the Gaslamp store confirmed that they still had plenty (I suspect others also balked at walking with tote) so I had some set aside and headed there after dropping the recyclables.

Old Town Recycling is my recycling place of choice. It's nearby, pays cash and although you do meet some odd folk, I've never had an unpleasant encounter.

It is also just round the corner from one of my favourite San Diego intersections. Mostly I like it for the signage but California Street can be part of a serious hill walking tour and San Diego Avenue is often part of a tour of Hillcrest-Mission Hills-Old Town trek.

No time for any walkabout today, and the double knitting cheque book cover is growing oh so slowly.

I've been carting around a couple of larger projects. Two of them need to be tinked back before moving forward and the third just needs a design decision. Since I haven't managed to commit to any of these the next WIP to hit the active list is still undecided.

While mucking out the stables I realised that I'd not put a ball band into the Berber Cotton centre pull I'd wound off for the Casual Cables revisit. Since I still had hanks of both dye lots out on the table it looked like I was going to repeat the same old dye lot issues and this project was not going to be a contender. I had myself half convinced which of the two dye lots I'd decided to use but I really wasn't confident. Blog to the rescue, I'd actually recorded the dye lot in a June posting.

The stable muck out has not given up the green kynar wire I was sure I had kicking around. Since it wasn't with the rest of the wire knitting STASH I'm either delusional about having some or I've some rogue wire that needs to reunited with the rest of the flock.