#388 Ctrl+Alt+Del (6)

This photo pretty much sums up how I felt about my day by the time it was 3pm. I wanted to delete it and start over, or just go home and crawl under the duvet. What was I doing at 3pm, you’re wondering? Well… clearly I figured that my keyboard was in need of an immune system boost, because I spilled an orangy vitamin C drink over it, and spent the next twenty minutes prying keys off my keyboard and then cleaning up the sticky mess underneath. Mental note to email our IT department: we appear to be overdue for the semi-annual visit from the keyboard cleaning guys because yuck!

I have no idea if the keyboard is salvageable. I’ve set it aside to dry and will try it in a few days. It’s actually not an office keyboard, it’s a personal ergonomic one that we had lying around the house, and I brought it into the office a couple of years ago when one of my wrists was giving me trouble. Since then I’ve discovered that they’re fairly easy to requisition, but I never got around to bringing my own one back home.

Now I am in possession of a shiny new office ergonomic keyboard, but it’s going to take a bit of time for my fingers to get accustomed to it.

Shiny new tech toy aside, there wasn’t much to the day that I was enthusiastic about. The temperatures have warmed up again ridiculously. There was a 50/50 chance of rain this morning so I cycled in my rain gear and let me tell you, when I pulled the waterproof overtrousers off my legs in the locker room after it was like a sauna under there. There was steam coming off my legs in the cool air. Waterproof and breathable? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. And while I’m not a huge fan of freezing weather, winter should be winter and all this temperature see sawing is just a great way to catch a cold. Sure, I’ve had my flu shot, but I live with a four year old who goes to daycare so he’s basically a bacterial petrie dish that likes to hug my face in his sleep and cough on me. I was joking the other week with a colleague that The Mister has come down with the Man Flu. “I thought you told me once that your husband never gets sick,” she said to me as she stirred her coffee.

“That was before we had a kid,” I replied. “Toddler germs. They’re a biological weapon.”

To be honest, the rest of the day wasn’t really that terrible, but it’s that time of the year where everyone is either sick, or about to be sick, or valiantly trying not to succumb to being sick, while running around madly trying to get everything finished before the holidays. My office desk looks like the aftermath of a bomb exploding inside a filing cabinet and if I don’t tidy it soon I worry that I will go postal. It’s dark and wet outside most of the time, and it’s either freezing or too warm-but-windy, meaning you’re trying to dress for about three different climates. Even The Mister was having one of Those Days. He spent six hours on a phone call at work, which is impressive given that he doesn’t even have a desk phone.

And how did the day end? With about fifteen rounds of Jingle Bells, of course. For better or for worse, Hawkeye went quiet after that. I think he was sulking that I didn’t get him any biscuits for the ride home, so he was probably thinking it was one of Those Days too.

Tomorrow is Friday, thankfully, but there is no rest for the wicked. The weekend is jam packed of pre-booked events from seeing Santa to catching a show at the children’s theatre in the city centre, and of course tomorrow afternoon is the annual creche Christmas concert where The Mister and I will go to admire Hawkeye’s latest performing talents.

I have a feeling Jingle Bells might be one of the acts on the performance programme.