Minor progress

I did manage to get through the TRB reviews.  I made some progress on the documentation and bought basically one more day, so I am about to go work on that (otherwise I will probably fall asleep and just feel like I tossed away my lifeline).  There is one other thing I should do for work, and I can probably wrap that up in 30 minutes, so I'll probably look for a break when I am sick of typing.  I'm not thrilled at how much extra time this is taking, but in some sense I did squander some of my time (prior to this week).  I've always found completing documentation difficult.  This is actually not nearly as bad as the GUM documentation which ended up taking something like a year to complete, and all the files are missing.  Well, after my various recovery attempts, pretty much all the files have been recovered, though some still sit on the TransLink servers, meaning I may not have instant access to them.

I just get distracted by other pressing things, and I find that in general I am a better started of projects than a finisher.  This is something I share with Nelson Algren apparently.  It's also somewhat endemic of the consulting life, though you would think there would be some people coming up through the ranks who are better "finishers."  And in fact, my greatest strength is to do the solid, difficult work in the middle of a project (which in itself is a bit of a rare skill) and hand off stuff to the client and have them satisfied.  Is it so much to ask that someone come around and help me polish off the bitter end of a project (when there is still documentation to write and no budget left)?  Apparently so.

One exciting thing is that I did see the new streetcar on Spadina.  It's almost like catching sight of the white whale.  I had actually debated bringing my camera along when I went to lunch, but left without it.  Too bad.  Anyway, over time these will start becoming far more common on Toronto streets.  Now I happen to like riding on the streetcars (at least some of the time), though I am aware of their shortcomings, particularly when they 1) break down, 2) get diverted with little or no notice and 3) get stuck behind a car making a left turn.  Still, I do like them, especially on weekends when I am not as pressed for time.  It will be a difficult period of adjustment, as they are so much longer and it will be harder for them to interact with cars (and then the cars will make life even harder for cyclists, particularly on Queen and Dundas (west of Broadview at any rate).  I'm sure I'll post more on TTC and its policies later down the road.

We met a very promising candidate to babysit the kids.  We'll ultimately want to find two or three possible sitters, but this one seems like a keeper.  Maybe my wife and I will get to make it to the movies for the first time in months.  That in itself is serious progress.  (The sitter even complimented us on how homey our place felt after only two months, and we really are basically done, aside from the boxes in the basement.)

As much as I want to, I can't spend any time on the basement tonight or probably tomorrow, but after that, I think I can get back to it.  Once I see serious progress down here, I'll be in better spirits and can start thinking about setting up an actual writing schedule or a progress meter or something.  But now -- back to work.