Sometimes life requires you to do certain things. Sometimes those things feel like acts of charity. You make the choice to do them, but did you REALLY have a  choice?

Sometimes, afterward, you realize you did exactly what you were meant to do, and guess what? It was actually FUN!

Friday, my office closed early for the long weekend. I went to the farmers market and the supermarket and bought a free range, organic turkey, some root vegetables, and a sweet pumpkin - to make a

pie. Then I spent the rest of Friday scouring google, trying to figure out what the heck to do with my ingredients.

I baked a pumpkin pie for scratch, brined a turkey for roasting, and packed the rest of my ingredients into a reusable shopping bag.

We hopped in the car on Saturday, I bought a new camera lense, and we headed for the hills to have Turkey Day Dinner with boybot’s dad. Despite almost constant conversation about the “economic crises”, it was a really, really fun day. The meal I made was edible, the scenery outside was beautiful, and the company was fun. I would do it again tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll start making a bit of a habit of it.

It’s hard losing a wife, a best friend, and living in the middle of nowhere. Even if “nowhere” is the most beautiful place I can think of. It’s sad to see someone who has wanted to desperately to be alone all his life, finally alone, and lonely. A man with two real friends in the world, who would help him unconditionally, one of them his son.

This winter I’m going to be making it a tradition to go out there at least every other Sunday and cook a decent meal. There’s no warmer feeling than cooking a meal for someone, and making them smile - when there really aren’t a lot of things going on in their life to smile about.

I can hear the boys talking about the turkey and the meal on the phone now. So cute, they make ME smile.

No. Not the stock markets.

If anyone were to ever ask me for advice before starting their careers in finance, I would tell them this: beware the quarters ends, they will sucketh thine life away.
I loves my job, but I will admit to exhaustion around this time every third month. The only person I can really reach out and feel pity for right now is my boss. She’s part energizer bunny, part ticking time bomb.

That’s pretty much all the energy I have left for typing today. Zzz.

• My ISP sucks so hard I have them on speed dial. That’s the kind of service you want easy access to. #
• ‘A lot of people talk about loving the earth. But how many of them actually penetrate it?’ - Colbert. Brilliant. #