I'm sorry, Theo.

My boss is possibly even more annoying today, even after giving notice. @@

My handwriting is still pretty good, but I write longhand in a notebook sometimes instead of typing.

I miss having time to do my first drafts longhand in a notebook. I'm not sure I actually wrote better that way, except insofar as I'd do a first editing pass as I entered the pages into the manuscript Word file, so my rough drafts weren't actually rough. But somehow it was easier to turn off distractions and enter into the world of my story when I wrote longhand.

I stopped doing it when I came back to work, but looking at that description, I wonder if I might be more productive in the long run if I went back to it. Like, if I wasn't sitting at a computer, I wouldn't feel like I'd earned the right to check my email (and Buffistas, and that blog post I replied to an hour back, and DailyKos, and...) after writing two whole pages. Maybe I'll give it a try and see how it impacts my page count.

Both my cursive and my printing are sloppy, but I use them for totally different purposes. Cursive is solely for fiction and journaling--creative or introspective writing. If I'm taking notes or making a to-do list, it has to be printed. Completely different mental process.

I had execrably bad handwriting in prep school, and we were tested on it.

I then went on to take up calligraphy and had a number of different handwritings, but that's fallen by the wayside. I'm taking more notes in meetings these days, and trying to make it not just legible but pleasing to look on, but it is work.

I remember hearing about company phones becoming something the employee had to pay tax on, because they were considered an employee benefit. I've probably made 5 personal phone calls on my Blackberry in a year, much lower than my land line. I have websurfed on it a lot, but still--not out of proportion to personal surfing at my desk, and always within work hours.

Which sounds terribly slack, doesn't it? Well, what I meant was that the government seems to accept that my work phone will have personal uses, and there are people here who bring their own phones in and use them for work or vice versa. Can't. Won't. Ick.

I use my personal cell for work. In fact, it's on my business cards because I don't have a phone line at either of my desks at work. Since I'm at two different sites, people should be able to contact me if they need to and they can on my cell. Very few people do that. Most people just email me.

Though, I wonder if I can deduct my cell phone costs on my taxes?

You should be able to, if you aren't reimbursed by the school which I'm gathering you aren't.

Theo, having had a number of similar losses, I've decided that it is less important to mark the death day than to attempt to make each living day the best it can be. We are so trained to look back...both out of respect and for fear of repeating the past, but I'm thinking that those who have gone on aren't particularly concerned with us feeling guilty over forgetting that particular milestone.

In any case, a hug to you...

Theo , have an easy day - do what you need to do

My boss is possibly even more annoying today, even after giving notice. @@

Who gave notice again? I have such a hard time keeping track. You non-profit people are so wild and zany.

I'm thinking that those who have gone on aren't particularly concerned with us feeling guilty over forgetting that particular milestone

I agree with both bonny and beth.

Yeah, Jesse, I missed the announcement about your soon-to-be-ex boss! But then I've been Skippy McSkipperson this past week....

I have ... not very good handwriting. My default handwriting is stylized printing; I haven't really written in cursive for ages. One of my idle whims (that will probably never happen) is to take a course in proper penmanship.