The first year of our marriage, Taylor and I lived in a big college house in Virginia that was a mix of graduate students/young professionals. Taylor lived in the house the year before, and rent would be dirt-cheap (to match our income at the time), for the complete basement of the house- with its own kitchen, bath, etc.

Upstairs were 7 ladies during that year. Taylor has kept up with these ladies, and they called themselves and the house that they lived in “Big Love”.

They get together every year or so (not all of them every year, but close). This year, their destination of Cape Charles in Virginia, was not fully prepared in time. With friends coming from Texas, Washington DC, Atlanta, and elsewhere- Greensboro NC was the central location- so Taylor offered our house for the weekend (Her and I talked about it first).

The ladies had fun, and went to see the Broadway production of “Mean Girls” that was at the new performing arts center in town. One part of the movie is “on Wednesdays we wear pink”, so the group dressed accordingly:

And they were kind enough to leave one of Weezie Black’s cookies afterwards. It was unusually good:

My mom was gracious enough to take in me and the two girls while our house was filled with 9 ladies for the weekend. Here is a picture from Kirkwood park, when Rosie shouted out “Mercy is my Uber driver.” Her creativity cracks me up every single day.

It was fun- I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I would have wanted, but it was a fun weekend. We ate well, Mercy got her nap in, Rosie did her dance performance, and she made it to her sleepover on time. Cici and I did a great job balancing all of the things.

The weekend was fun, but it was good to get everyone back together again on Sunday afternoon, when Rosie got back from her sleepover.

In defense of the messy desk.

This is a new section- more of an opinion piece of something that has been on my mind; the only parameter for these opinion pieces is to not venture in the world of politics.

Where do you stand on the scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being “super clean” and 1 being “pretty filthy” for your desk?

I would put myself as a 6 or 7, depending on the day, and there are many reasons for this.

My job is to write computer code- I am a software engineer writing computer code- and there is a “creative” aspect to it. There are problems that the computer code needs to solve, and my desk is where that creative “magic” happens.

Growing up, I got to watch Cici be creative in her art- with a studio that turns out original art at a rate that would make your head spin. Her studio is her creative space, where she gets “in the zone” turning out beautiful, colorful pieces.

I too can be in such a rush to get “in the zone” that other things can be left incomplete. From the image above there is:

• Two coffee cups. Neither are from today.
• A water cup. Stay hydrated!
• Hair gel that never made its ways to the bathroom.
• Glasses I don’t wear while looking at a computer screen.
• My middle school yearbooks- which havent made it to a bookshelf yet.
• A black, computer backpack that needs to be put away.
• An old HP laptop that needs to be taken to our e-waste location.
• Two macbooks- as I switch between work and personal tasks.
• A green “Decoding the technical interview” book
• An unused computer dongle
• a “Port” that connects all of the things to the laptop

There is a lot going on in this picture. This is my captain’s chair throughout the day and I put my head down and love what I do. Its a bit messy- and a bit active. I think that is like a microcosm of our lives right now.

If you had to share, how would you rate your setup?