Management Meeting
Trimmed beard. Laundry—Thanksgiving linens. Cleaned basement for Corinne photo shoot. Photo work for Loni—Christmas tree picture of Wolfe and Leland, cell phone challenges. MFF meeting slides. Kitchen cleanup. Filed box of wine. Minecraft Cassia, Minecraft Foo with Leland. Ran MFF Management Team meeting. Walked to Suds—hung out with Aaron, Brittany and her husband, good conversation about meat smokers. Feeling lonely after Thanksgiving social withdrawal, it helped. Uber home. Ancient Civilisations—Chandragupta and Asoka. Hogan's Heroes—Klink as master spy Nimrod, possibly Hofstadter's end.
Getting Things Done
December 1, 2025
These notes describe the events of Sunday, 11/30/2025.
Trimmed my beard early in the day. Small grooming task that needed attention.
Did some laundry, mostly the various linens from Thanksgiving and having guests over. Tablecloths, napkins, towels—the accumulated wash that follows hosting. One of those tasks that's never truly finished after a holiday, just worked through in stages.
Cleaned up the basement. Making space functional, dealing with accumulated items, creating order from disorder—but also in service of preparing for my photo shoot with Corinne. My basement, in various configurations, may be used for hosting large dinners (such as the 24 person dinner at Thanksgiving), a workout room, or a studio. The cleanup transforms the space from post-Thanksgiving dining hall back toward studio configuration, requiring attention to both function and aesthetics.
Worked on slides for the MFF Management Team meeting. Preparing materials, organizing information, making sure the presentation would communicate effectively. The preparation that makes meetings productive rather than just time-consuming.
Cleaned up around the kitchen. More maintenance work, keeping the space functional for daily use and ready for the housekeeper's arrival.
Filed a box of wine. Storage logistics, making space, organizing inventory. The practical work of managing household supplies.
Played Minecraft Cassia. Then played Minecraft Foo with Leland. Two different servers, different gameplay, different company. The virtual building and problem-solving that provides both relaxation and connection.
Ran the MFF Management Team meeting. The main event of the day, pulling together the preparation into actual discussion and decision-making. MFF—Mandigo Family Farm—is a fairly large piece of property that my extended family owns in common, located in Northern Idaho. I lead the management team for it. The property requires regular coordination and strategic thinking, balancing multiple family members' interests and needs. The management meetings keep everyone aligned, surface issues, move projects forward.
Walked to Suds afterward and hung out at the bar with Aaron and Brittany. Good conversation with familiar faces, the kind of social time that happens naturally when you're a regular. I was suffering from a bit of hangover/withdrawal from all of the social contact during Thanksgiving weekend—feeling a bit lonely after days of constant company. It helped. The casual conversation and presence of familiar people provided connection without the intensity of hosting. Good conversation about meat smokers with Brittany and her husband—something to consider going forward. Got an Uber home rather than walking back—practical choice after beer and conversation.
Watched Ancient Civilisations. The episode was about Chandragupta and Asoka—the Indian conqueror and his grandson. The patterns of empire building, succession, how power transfers or fragments across generations. Historical perspective on ambition, achievement, and the challenge of maintaining what previous generations built.
Watched Hogan's Heroes. One episode was about Klink being the master spy, Nimrod—a plot twist that may have signaled the end of Hofstadter. The usual light entertainment after heavier historical content, though this episode had more dramatic stakes than typical comedy fare.
The day moved through its list methodically. Beard trimmed, laundry advanced, basement cleaned, kitchen organized, wine stored. Photo work completed for Loni. Slides prepared for meeting. Minecraft providing breaks between productive tasks. The MFF meeting justified all the preparation—having materials ready, information organized, enabling substantive discussion rather than scrambling through disorganized thinking.
The projects list frames everything for the day: MFF requiring ongoing management attention, food logistics including freezer space and turkey broth, home maintenance with basement and general cleanup, the upcoming photoshoot with Corrine needing preparation, Mexico travel requiring planning review, New Zealand travel pretty much locked in with just some additional arrangements that need to be made. Each project demands time and attention, competing for limited resources.
The plan for the day was ambitious: laundry, meeting prep, freezer space, turkey broth freezing, basement cleanup, Mexico plan review, beard trim, cleanup for housekeeper. Accomplished most of it—beard trimmed, laundry progressed, basement cleaned, meeting prep completed, general cleanup done. Didn't get to freezer space or turkey broth or Mexico plan review. Three out of seven specific tasks plus the meeting itself counts as reasonable progress.
Walking to Suds after the meeting made sense—mental break after focused work, social connection, physical movement, familiar environment. The conversation with Aaron and Brittany at the bar provides the kind of low-stakes interaction that's restorative rather than demanding. Uber home was practical choice—no need to walk back after hanging out.
Ancient Civilisations providing historical context about conquest and succession reminds you that current struggles aren't new. Empires rise, leaders conquer, successors try to maintain or expand, patterns repeat across cultures and centuries. The India conqueror and his grandson faced the same challenges every generation faces: building something significant, then figuring out how to sustain it beyond the founder's lifetime.
MFF represents smaller scale version of that challenge: building something that works, creating structure that continues beyond any individual's direct involvement, establishing systems that function rather than depending entirely on specific people. The management meetings exist to create that sustainability—shared understanding, distributed responsibility, collective decision-making rather than single-point-of-failure leadership.
Saturday well spent. Tasks accomplished, meeting executed, social connection maintained, entertainment consumed. The weekend providing time for both productive work and necessary breaks. Projects advanced incrementally. The ongoing work of life management continues—never complete, always requiring attention, occasionally showing real progress.
Comments
Post a Comment