There was this thing at IBM called Work Life Balance. It was one of those IBM things. There were numerous internal web pages about how to manage the Work Life Balance. Tips and 10 Signs That You Have It Wrong type thing. Some of it was aimed at those of us who were trying to work from home. I’ve been doing some thinking about it recently. Actually some of it was triggered by the horror of waking up at 7 in the morning and thinking about work and sometimes going to bed thinking about work. It is something I used to do a lot – actually basically nearly always. Checking my work email within minutes of waking up didn’t help. Having had a break from work I was not overly happy to see those things start to creep back.

Now I had thought that some people were good at switching off work and some people (like me) are not good at this. And people don’t really talk about it. It gets hinted at sometimes but I couldn’t really tell you who of my colleagues were turn off-ers and who were always on-ers. And I wished and marvelled at those people who could turn off. And I thought that I am just someone who gets terrifically focussed on whatever it is. But now someone has made me think that perhaps this is actually a choice, it is not innate or so deeply built in to who I am. So I’m going to see if they are right, to see if it is a choice. I’ll let you know.

Trip to Denver:

UA870 to SFO. Cattle class. My colleagues got upgrades but I have not paid my time on United. In a company that asks you to pay per Tim Tam (good for my health) the economy class ticket policy was not a huge surprise. It was "Do you want the good news or the bad news". I don't remember the good news but it was possibly something about once you start to travel you will start to get upgraded.

Having boarded I saw him. He looked at me. His mother was getting organized. Fourteen hours next to someone else's toddler - nightmare. It didn't take more than a few nano-seconds to take up the offer to move to another location so that particular toddler party could sit together.

34K did not have a lot of room. So my neighbour had been on holiday accompanying her husband on a business trip. The conversation is a bit of a blur but they were folks from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from Salt Lake City – otherwise and more easily pronounced Mormons or LDS.

I made the mistake of asking one too many questions.

“We were persecuted and thrown out of many places”. Once a year we go out of our way to remember how we were slaves in Egypt and how we came out. This lady lives a couple of hundred years of recent history in the present. She is good at it.

Suggesting that LDSnikim are not really Christians and don't believe in Jesus as the son of G-d is not a good idea unless you want a very long engaged conversation. I didn’t suggest any such thing but it was enough that many people apparently have insinuated this that provoked a strong monologue.

Mormons don't eat a lot of meat, don't smoke, don't drink alcohol, and tea is out. I did spot a surreptitious Coke bottle though. "So do you drink Coke then?" "We are not perfect." "Well, nobody is perfect." "It is not written that we cannot drink Coke but tea is out". My kind of halacha.

“Well we encourage people to read the book and pray and see how that feels”. Repeat four or five times with intervals in a very confined space.

You have to be well behaved to get married in the Temple. No pre-marital etc.

There are three million Mormons on this planet.

Honey, he studied in Oxford.

They started travelling a lot recently. They have been to Texas and Arkansas.

Denver itself was OK. I missed Mark and Tara who were off rafting down the Grand Canyon. I drank quite a lot. It was hot. I worked out. I met lots of people. I went home with an upgrade – no Mormons.

Sharon’s Work
Sharon is working for the local national Jewish paper. This is her second week. She flew to Melbourne for the day and has come back looking very tired and has actually fallen asleep. And now I over-cooked the rice because I set the alarm wrong. Bugger. Anyhow, flying without kids for the first time was apparently a bit of a let-down.

What else is news? I’ve been playing soccer but have not started something else. I need a something else. We also haven’t made much effort to be sociable so need to work on that. And we haven’t got out and about much recently so need to do that too.

We did have a birthday party for Ariel. Sharon organised it. We had it in Centennial Park and the weather was gorgeous and the kids had an activity looking for bugs with Phillipa the park ranger originally from Windsor (UK). Ariel had a lovely time. We gave all the kids a plant and a little watering can as going away presents – much nicer than the processed sugar hive they normally come home with. And this week the council planted trees in our road and they have suggested we adopt one or two while they are still young.

That is all for now. Tomorrow is Sharon’s birthday and we are off to see a show and I made her a card for the first time in years inspired by Deborah’s beautiful hand-made card for Ariel. I can write this as she will not read about it until her birthday as she is fast asleep. Goodnight.