It’s National Milk Chocolate Day, so here’s to you Mama! It’s no secret my family are chocoholics, although many of have graduated to the hard stuff—dark chocolate. For me, the bitterer to the betterer. I did indulge in milk chocolate today with a caramel center, which I got at work in the snack kitchen. Yes, I went into the office again today to escape the construction noise happening just below me. Apparently, they were quite busy today, having completed about 70% of the framing.

Because we still have to book a desk before going in, no one knows where they’re going to sit until that morning. I happened to be assigned to the desk that is adjacent to my old seat assignment; felt good to be back in the ’hood again. As far as work went, however, I didn’t get jack done today. Spent most of it texting back and forth with the IT team in New York and Austin (we don’t have that type of local IT support) trying to figure three different problems and then waiting for downloads and reboots. Unfortunately, the Windows OS installs totally hosed my laptop on the final reboot. Now I have to wait a few weeks for a replacement, but I’m told I can still access my documents from my personal computer—the gods of security just have to grant me access with their special powers. I told the IT guy that I had a desktop computer at the office and could I please, please, pretty please with chocolate on top bring it home? It’s not his call, but he totally agreed with me that it was the most practical thing. Otherwise the company has to ship me a loaner—if they can find one—from the West Coast until my replacement arrives.

I also found out today that I’m not moving forward with the other role I applied for. They loved my writing but said other people have more solid qualification in the areas they want. The rejection totally bummed me out for 15 minutes; that’s the amount of time I allowed myself to be upset about it before persuading myself to believe the universe has something better in store for me. (Lottery win? Million-dollar book contract? Distant wealthy relative leaving money in a will?)

This afternoon, I had a chiropractic treatment that consisted of the doc digging his thumbs into my calf, foot, and shins on the injured ankle side of the house until I screamed. He said it was for my own good and so that I don’t tear the Achilles tendon when I start walking properly again. Have to stretch that back out. I came home to continuing dealing with the work computer, which is when I found out I’d have to get a new one. I didn’t wrap up that mess until after 6 PM, which required spending a little while in the garden to wind down. Admired the flowers and my laughing Buddha, then picked a bunch of tomatoes, a couple zucchinis, and two peppers that are hotter than Sweet Jesus himself. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening watching an episode or two of Virgin River, which a couple of women at work talked me into getting addicted to.