Friday

When I got back from Arizona, almost two weeks ago, I took stock of what work I can possibly accomplish before my final day on the job, July 31st. I wrote up a list and sent it off to my boss, who said it looked about right.

This means that, for the first time in my tenure with this company, I have a to-do list that actually diminishes as each day passes, with nothing new tacked on to the end. (Well, there are some incidental things that have and will come up, but no new projects.) By the end of the day Friday, I was done with half of this list. I have precisely two more large tasks to accomplish before I leave, in both cases reading through and marking up reports. Along the way, I’ll have to contribute various small items to the massive reference binder my company must prepare each summer, ahead of a fiscal planning conference we put on for a certain mayoral blue-ribbon panel.

So the end is in sight.

After work I walked to Dizzy’s, the first time I’ve been there in over a month. (All other things being equal, I’d be there every Friday, or such has been the tradition, lo this year and a half.) Of the regulars, Greg and I were the only attendees, though Erin joined us briefly on a break from nannying. (What? Is a bar not a normal place for a nanny to kill some time before tucking in the kids?)

And at home I watched a little television and read a David Sedaris article in the latest New Yorker.