Ep 42: Forget me-knots

Yesterday, I giddily cleaned out my handy-dandy laptop attaché. I get a certain visceral satisfaction out of keeping things clean and orderly. Organizing and then reorganizing to squeeze out a little more efficiency of my work or daily routine simply makes me tingle.

Except when I forget to refill.

There are a few items I must have in my bag every morning before I walk out the back door. Emphasis is on "few," because unlike most women I know, who simply add a bag to their daily luggage when they can't find something in the land of the lost, i.e. their very own portable black hole-slash-time machine where everything is thrown and lost to frazzled moments in everyday history and the unsolved mysteries that their men are usually to blame for "Well, you wouldn't have to wait if you remembered where you put my hair brush."

Like I was saying, unlike others, the few items I port each day are essential to my daily routine: my company dog tags (ID), my wallet with just credit cards, license, and train pass (no three year old receipts or coupons for "25% off your next purchase at Ann Taylor"), my round-robin of keys, a pen or two, my iPhone, a pack of gum, a mini-umbrella (only if the forecast suggests one ) and some tissue.

Alas, I forgot to refill on the tissue last night. Granted, I don't need them every morning, but on occasion I will have, presumably, allergy-prompted sinus build-up that requires draining. Without my usually dependable store of Kleenex or Starbucks napkins though - I'm screwed.

The train seats are simply too close for comfort to desperately rely on shirt sleeves, the loose ends of crusty old used tissues or a stiff page from the PowerPoint presentation I printed out to review during the commute home; it's too uncouth and embarrassing to execute, which usually means I have to resort to those annoying sniffles that get stronger as we get closer to our final destination because you've got to put the vacuum in reverse and then simply swallow or store the build-up. Ugh, simply not a pretty process.

Oh, but don't worry, I'll spare you the slimy details of the expulsion, because this little diddy actually has a happy ending.

Once seated and right after we picked up the overweight Indian dude at Cortlandt Station who apologetically wanted to squeeze into the seat next to me, so that his big ass and arm would overhang into my space the rest of the ride (sorry, apologies not accepted), I remembered.

I remembered that indeed I had remembered to refill. Except I hadn't replenished with one of those compact drug store packages, nor did I replace with a scrunch of coffeehouse brown tearsheets.

Rather, to my pleasant surprise, as I assessed what were my essential items while composing this lament-cum-exhortation, I found the almost-done roll of toilet paper in the side powercord-charger pocket of my bag. Hallelujah!

And so it is. It pays to be routinely organized, because than you're on rote-control, so that if you forget you actually probably really haven't forgotten, but just forgot whether you did or not.

Ep. 41: This, Our Daily Bread

Olivia Luz, our little princess was born two weeks ago tomorrow.
She is merely one of my many daily blessings.

Lately, almost all of my one hour of "free" time has been spent playing semi-mindless WWF during my daily commute to work.

I'd word-whittle my time away on the return trip too, but these days I'm almost always the guy with a little drool sliding down the side of my snore-hole.

The first true love of my life, writing, has had to take a back seat to juggling two babies, a manor-of-a-home, a happy marriage, a blended family made of rambunctious boys, and my evolving 9-to-5 (i.e., there is no such thing as job security anymore, adapt to the culture of "constant improvement" and reorgs, or - be ready to fill that cardboard box).

I'm writing now because this catharsis is long overdue. No complaints apart from the fact that I don't have time to pen my thoughts, share my observations and express my appreciation for all the wonderful little things that fulfill my days.

As I told Margarita yesterday whilst shoveling in my last scoop of her heavenly Posole, "As veces, estoy en la oficina y me pregunto 'Porque estoy aquí?' Entonces regreso a casa, a mi familia y cenas maravillosas como esta-y recuerdo."

"Sometimes, I'm in the office and I ask myself 'Why am I here?' Then I return to my home and family, and wonderful meals like this and I remember."