This morning I slept in and woke to find I was the only person home. As I peeled an orange to eat with my breakfast it occured to me that peeling an orange takes a lot more time than pouring a cup of orange juice, yet the taste of a fresh orange is so much better than the drink from orange concentrate. I guess that's what 'worthwhile' means: its more worth the time it takes.
Sleep is worthwhile. I've been trying to do too many things for too long, and not giving my body the sleep that is really worth the while, and this past week it seems to have caught up with me...
Most of the week I've been feeling super-tired, and Thursday afternoon and all day Friday I was out sick from work. I felt exhausted, and went to the doctor Friday afternoon to make sure it wasn't mono. The doctor said that probably its a virus I caught and it looks like I'm mostly over it (sleep and fluids is the best remedy), but the bloodwork test results to verify whether or not its mono won't be back until Monday or Tuesday. Its probably not mono, thought, because my spleen and lymph nodes weren't swollen, and the would be if it were mono.
When I listed all the various responsibilities I've taken on, the doctor suggested that I try to either cut some of them out or delegate them to other folks. I've already had to cut out my plans to run in the Chickamauga Marathon next month, and last week realized that I don't have time to help any more with Martin Scott's campaign for Georgia House of Representatives.
It may take some time to figure out what other responsibilities I can reduce or cut, but it looks like it may be worthwhile for me to think about that.
Yesterday and Wednesday I was in Knoxville with my boss doing field adjustments to a three mile long stretch of road with 15 traffic signals, and our new timing plan reduced the driving time (round trip from one end to the other and back) from 20 minutes to 15 minutes! I was excited.
Anyhow, during a brief mid-morning break while my boss was on the phone I wrote a couple traffic-haiku poems--why not? I didn't have a book easily accessible, but had a laptop computer we were using to analyse the traffic patterns. The poems are presented below.
trucks, cars and buses
cruise on asphalt and concrete:
solid urban streets
yellow, red, waiting:
time flows, patience grows, and then
acceleration
One of my co-workers, after seeing the two haiku, emailed the following haiku to me:
joel fredrick swanson
spare time in knoxville thursday
making up haikus
Inspired by Hackensnipper's posting the literary content of her desk in cubicletown, I jotted down the contents of the bookshelf in my cube: Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science, Airport Planning and Management, Highway Engineering, Traffic Signal Operations at Local Intersections, Traffic Signal Operations in Coordinated Systems, Roundabouts: An Informational Guide, SimTraffic Users Guide, Foundations of Electrical Engineering, Probability and Statistics, Introduction to Linear Algebra, Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Problems, Great Moments in Architecture, The Big Dig at Night, the Bible... I would add that Great Moments in Architecture by David Macaulay includes the failed idea of installing drop-ceilings in cathedrals, an inverted stone arch in Maine (the Arch of Defeat), and the meetings of the Greater and Lesser Walls in China.
Conclusions? I'm called to wear an engineering hat by day, and my books of theology, novels, music, biography, and all manner of treasured volumes are left at home. 'Tis at times a sad situation. Matters are only made worse by not being able to sing freely at work.