October 2004 full listing

For the third Sunday in a row, I’m posting something. I’m not sure if this is a trend or not, but I felt like ranting.

Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I was planning to have a productive day working. It fell apart almost immediately. And the thing is, I’m not quite sure how. In the morning, I got a somewhat later than usual start, but nothing fatal. I planned lunch with a friend. Then I’m not sure what happened. I was home, and in front of the computer, and nothing got done. I really don’t know where the morning went. I went and had lunch and then swung by the bank on the way home. The rain picked up enough again that I didn’t want to walk home from the bank, so I sat in the coffeeshop talking to Gordon for a while. Then I missed the bus I was planning to take home during a break in the rain because the buses are back to running on the normal route, and I walked to the detoured stop.

So, looking for a way to kill twenty minutes, I wandered over to Bill’s office to talk to him for a bit. Did that, headed outside and missed another bus, and finally just decided to walk home and get wet.

No! This way!

480x640(74k)

The construction on 15th Ave. SE is finally done. As I was walking home in the rain yesterday (because the buses weren’t running where I thought), I saw the collection of signs that had been confusing people around the U. The signs are still hard at work. I also (re)discovered that in low-light situations, a smaller camera is harder to hold stable than a bigger one, hence the bit of blurriness in that photo.

Other than not getting much work done, it was a pretty good day. I did some walking. I had lunch with a friend. I talked with a couple more friends. I had a good attitude all day long. I didn’t even really mind the rain, except for the part where it seemed to let up whenever I went inside, and then got heavy again when I stepped outside. Shrug.

This weekend? I have no idea. There’s a party I’m invited to on Saturday night, but I don’t have a costume prepared, and will probably decide I’m going to stay home instead. Sunday night I’ll probably stay home and see if any trick-or-treaters stop by, but since I don’t have a front light on the house, let alone any decorations, I’m not expecting too many visitors. There will probably be a trip up to Mom’s at some point, and possibly a trip to the range to go make holes in paper, but no firm plans yet. I guess I’d have to say that the situation is fluid, but could solidify just about any time.

Yesterday — the day itself was nothing special, but as it came up on 5pm, I realized I had to run to the bank, so I headed over to Dinkytown. After the banking, I stopped by the Blarney for a couple happy hour beers and some dinner. After I finished eating, I was joined by Cheryl and her mom, some Italians from Nordeast. We spent more than an hour chatting about all sorts of things (including politics, in which I spent most of the time biting my tongue), and I had women buying me beers for the first time in quite a while. I figured it was a shame they’re both married, since I was feeling pretty flattered there for a while. But then it was time for them to head out, and I managed to get home in time for the first pitch of Game 4. As random encounters in bars go, that was one of the better ones lately.

Other than that, our week of reasonable temperatures has been marred by cloudy rainy weather. I haven’t been getting out and walking around the way I would have liked this week, and apparently this week isn’t the indian summer I was hoping for. Oh well, maybe later on when I’ll want it even more.

Well, here it is, Wednesday morning. In spite of my vague threats the other day, I’ve been sticking to my normal morning ritual of surfing the web and putting together some links while I wake up. That’s going to be a tough habit to break, and I don’t think I feel strongly enough about it to even try yet.

Only a few more days remain before the evenings get dark much sooner, though. That’s a drag, but it will mean that I won’t be spending the entire morning in darkness, as I have the past few days. At least not until we’re a lot deeper into winter, and my urge to go outside will be roughly non-existant.

Folks have pointed out that I haven’t commented much around here on the World Series. Well, I’m rooting for Boston, and they’re doing well, and while I’ve been watching the games in the evening, it feels more like a pleasant diversion to me than real baseball fannishness. The biggest thing about it is that when the series is over, there won’t be any more baseball for months. At least I’ll have a couple issues of Elysian Fields Quarterly to get me through the winter.

That brings me to the feeling for the week. It feels very autumnal. The temperatures have been pleasant enough during the day that I’ve been doing some things outside, but my body is feeling the transition and I’m mentally starting to hunker down for the winter already. I’ve almost got the fireplace ready to go for the winter, and have bought a couple hundred pounds of bird seed to keep the feeders full (and mouse-proof containers to keep my garage rodent-free this winter). Since I started filling the bird-feeders again last week, I’ve already attracted a bluejay and a cardinal who are regulars. And I’ve got a squirrel who’s able to climb the metal pole the feeders hang from. I’m tempted to coat the pole in grease or wrap it in flypaper to discourage the tree-rat, but for now I’m willing to live and let live. If nothing else, the bluejay seems willing to serve as enforcer, and has attacked a fuzzy tail more than once. I’ll leave it in his hands for now.

As for the birdseed, I’m feeding them a mix of black-oil and striped sunflower seeds in one feeder, and “peanut parts” in the other feeder. The house-swallows mostly go after the sunflowers, and the cardinal and bluejay both seem to like the peanuts. It was something different to try, and I think I’m relatively happy with things for now. But if you have a suggestion for something to put in the feeders that will attract birds I’d like to watch, feel free to send it along.

I’ve about had my fill with the whole politics thing. Everything I see just convinces me further that both major-party candidates are unfit to lead the country, if for no other reason than they want the job far too badly.

Anyway… the point is that I’m going to try and find links that are less political for the next week. I don’t know if you’re as tired of the politics as I am, but it doesn’t really matter. I’ve had enough, and unless something that really winds me up comes along, I’ll be looking for things that fall into the …and now, in other news… category. You can help, too. Send ’em in!

The weekend turned out to be a pretty good one. I was basically a complete slug on Friday, sleeping a ton in order to kick the cold I’d developed, and getting the bare minimum done for work. Saturday, I went to mom’s, and then out to dinner at Manning’s with Mark, Jim, and the Mutz. Didn’t join the gang in going out for Karaoke, since I’d been awake since 3am and when they all moved out at 10, I was ready to sleep. I slept from about 11 until 4:30, then from 6:30 to 9:30 and again from 12:30 to 2:30, with some writing in between. Then it was time to watch the race and the ballgame. Then to bed. Ahh. Relaxing.

By the way, the title for today is a quote from Gung Ho. After a lazy weekend, it’s the kind of thing I need to get moving again. There’s plenty that wants doing around here: Life Balance has a long enough to-do list for me that it’s got a scroll bar this morning, which is never a good sign. Then again, there are a few things on the list that will be a snap to knock off, which will help me feel as though I’m accomplishing things. And there are no real crises on the horizon, just a bunch of things I need to complete to keep life running smoothly. That’s a pretty good feeling.

Even though yesterday was a beautiful day and I didn’t get outside once, the weather for this week promises to be at least half-decent, and I’ll probably find an excuse to get outside and enjoy the weather at least once more before the snow flies. I’m feeling pretty good, and that’s a nice way to start the week. I’m tempted to take the phone off the hook so nobody can call me and wreck it.

This weekend, I awoke early both mornings, in spite of no good reason to do so. Saturday, I was awake at 3am, working on the website for much of the morning. Sunday, I awoke before 5, but went back to bed before sun-up and then climbed out of bed at 10 to begin the day again with a breakfast that dirtied more dishes than all the meals during the week had done.

I often tell myself that the early morning is my most productive time. It’s quiet both in and out, with the whir of the fans in the comptuer being the loudest noise around. But my early mornings really haven’t been all that productive. Most mornings, I end up surfing the web and putting together the entry for the day here, and that’s it. I then spend another hour or two getting ready to face the day, eating, playing some solitaire, showering, dressing, and then finally begin work about the time when I’m starting to think about lunch.

I found myself wondering this weekend if I might not be better served by doing the writing for the website in the evening, after the day’s paying work is done. There was a time when, if I awoke early, I’d be out the door within fifteen or twenty minutes, and take a long walk around the neighborhood before heading to school or work for the day. Those days are long past, and I miss them sometimes.

One of the things I thought about doing on Saturday was going for a walk with my camera, taking pictures of the fall color as the sun rose. It probably would have made for some nice pictures, and been more relaxing than working on the website and then steeling myself for the trip up to mom’s later in the morning.

I think the biggest thing is that, even on relatively productive mornings, I often spend an hour or two doing something like playing solitaire, or going back to sleep. It’s not very productive, and it’s usually just postponing whatever I have to do for the day. On bad days, it ends up stretching through the entire day, and I never switch into work mode.

I think I might have to try and change that. But not until after I take a nap.

I tried to find links this morning that weren’t about politics, but I had a really tough time. It’s like going down the freeway and seeing the car-crash on the shoulder. Even though you don’t want to look, your eyes are drawn over as you pass. Or sitting in a bar that has a TV on. Periodically you just have to look. Feh. Ten more days and we can finally be past this traffic jam. Unless the damn thing is close enough to be contested, in which case I’m thinking I’ll be needing that whisky IV, stat.

On a more positive note, I got a fair amount of work done yesterday, starting exactly as I planned, by updating a website with some material a client had emailed me. Then I spend a few hours researching a problem for another client, and think I’ve come up with a solution for them. Now to see if they’re willing to pay what it’ll cost to implement it.

Finally, last night’s Auto Body Experience gig was fun. I haven’t seen them for quite a while, and they’ve put together some new songs. And I’d forgotten that most of the band hadn’t seen me since I’d gotten my hair cut back in May. I got to confuse some more people. Woo! And the gig was nothing like watching a car crash. I had no urge at all to turn away.

I’ve had a tough time trying to get moving this week. Tuesday, when I thought I was going to be jumping back into work, I ended up getting a haircut and reading much of a book. Yesterday, I finished off that book, and watched the Red Sox pull off their comeback against the Yankees. Today, I feel like going back to bed already.

Part of this is due to the fiasco with Don, I’m sure. Another part of it is that I need to find new work since I’m wrapping things up with a few current clients. Finding new work is my least-favorite part of running my own business. Much of the time, work comes to me through referrals at a good enough rate that I can keep everything going without, well, working too hard at it. But once every couple years, the planets align and I need to actually go out on the hunt, and that’s where I find myself now.

Then there’s the ongoing issues with Mom. She’s getting old enough where she’s not going to be able to live on her own for much longer, and that’s meant a couple trips per week up to visit her and help her take care of things. That wears on a guy. I also think I’m coming down with a cold, but it could just be left-over allergens from the pup. In any case, I’m feeling cruddy.

I guess I’m just feeling overwhelmed lately and need to get working on something that will give me a little boost. Even if it’s just doing a quick update on a client website, I need to feel that I’m accomplishing something. It’s a lot easier to keep moving than it is to start moving.

Not much to say today. I was up late last night reading a fun book and overslept this morning. There are links, but not much commentary. My brain just seems to be in input mode, rather than output.

Today I try to get back into the normal swing of things. I’ve got a mix of links again, and am awake too early because I woke up too early, not because I had to take a walk in the frost in the yard at 5am. Thanks to those who emailed or called with condolences over having to take Don back. Not only was it emotionally expensive, it was a pretty steep financial price, too. The breeder does not give refunds on returned dogs, and beyond the nearly $500 I spent on Don, I spent an additional $300 on various other bits for him. I got a hundred bucks back from the breeder for returning the kennel.

I still need to do a thorough cleaning to get the last of the doggy-smell out of the house, too. I seem to have cleaned up enough that my dog allergy isn’t bothering me, but there’s a bit of an odor remaining, probably from one of his accidents. Maybe we’ll get a little Indian Summer so I can open the windows and clear some of the odor out (though I probably need to do more cleaning before that’ll be useful). Being able to open the windows some afternoon will also be helpful if I get organized enough that I can start painting in here.

Anyway, it’s time to get back to work in a serious way. And I actually have been productive enough lately, that I’ve cleared the decks somewhat. If you or someone you know is looking for Mac Programming or Web help, I’d appreciate it if you pointed them our way.

Well, that was a hell of a way to treat a bottle of whisky.

I’m alive, but a mite slow this morning. Maybe some links later in the day.

Two in the afternoon on Sunday, and I just returned from taking Don back to the kennel where I bought him. My allergy to him was too much, and even fully medicated I was still having problems. It tore me up to get rid of him, but that’s not the kind of problem that gets better over time — it just gets worse. I figured it was best to take him back before he got any more attached to me (and vice versa). It was one of the tougher things I’ve ever had to do. If you’re one of the people who told me so, you were right. Now, I think I’m going to go drink for a while. If there’s nothing new here on Monday, that would be the explanation.

Update, noonish: Well, it’s about noon. I’m back from the Doctor, and Target and taking Don for a walk. The eye problem was Conjunctivitis, with a mild case of chemosis. The doc gave me a prescription for Patanol for it. But since that’s $75 a pop, so he also recommended that I pick up some Naphcon-A, which is over the counter and should work about as well. He also recommended I think about getting rid of Don if the problem persists, which is one of the things I was worried about this morning.

While I was at Target waiting for the prescription to be filled, I picked up the sink-mat and hair-dryer for Don, too. Now it’s time for some lunch and a nap. I think I’ve had enough crises for the weekend, and wouldn’t be too disappointed if I slept until Monday.

I woke up this morning at about 5am. My right eye was sore and red (it appears to be Conjunctivitis), and the conjunctiva actually with enough slack in it that there was a fold I could see in the mirror. I figured it probably wouldn’t be hurt by more sleep, so I went back to bed. But Don had woken up, and had diarrhea, so he’d made a mess in his cage, and started barking for me. We took a brief walk outside in case there was more coming, then back in to clean up. Don got his first bath here at home, and I realize I should have gotten a rubber mat for the sink so he wouldn’t slip and squirm around so much, and a hairdryer so I could get him dry more quickly than with towels.

Now it’s 7am. Don’s towels and stuffed elephant are in the dryer, along with my bathrobe. My eye feels a little better, and I can’t smell the dog-poop throughout the house anymore (but maybe I’ve just gotten used to it). Two more hours until Nowcare opens so I can get my eye looked at. I guess it’s about time for me to shower and get Don his breakfast. My biggest worry is that the eye problem is related to him. I also worry that I didn’t get all the shampoo rinsed off Don, I’m worrying about my eye, and I’m going to start worrying about being short on sleep sometime soon. This is definitely not the relaxing Saturday I had been hoping for.

Trip to mom’s yesterday. Grumpy Dave today. The trip threw off my schedule, and Don’s. Hopefully today will get things back to normal a little, and I’ll be able to get back into the groove I was in the first half of the week.

This morning was a bit of turnabout. I woke up at 2am wondering at the silence. Again at quarter-to-five. No noise from Don? What’s wrong? After all, he did jump out of my arms last night and go “woof” on the sidewalk from a couple feet up. Maybe he’s hurt, even though he seemed fine when I went to bed. Nope. He’s fine. I just forgot to turn on his nightlight last night, and surprise, surprise, he slept through the night without waking up wanting a potty break. So of course I woke him up at 5am to take him out into the 40°F air. I figure it’s only fair.

In other news, it was another productive day. It was rainy and windy out, and we didn’t get any long walks, so I spent some of that time working and some sitting and playing with Don. I think he missed the exercise, but he didn’t seem especially interested in walking around in the puddles after he was done with his initial splashing about. And it was nice for me to wrap up two work projects in a single day. Plus we did get a nice visit from the Foleys in the evening, and Jen pronounced Don a pretty healthy puppy.

Today will be almost certainly be less productive, as there’s a trip to mom’s in the works, but I’m hoping the trend of sleeping through the night will continue, and maybe I’ll be able to sleep without wondering about the pup, which should make for less sleepiness during the day. I definitely don’t want a repeat of Tuesday morning when I woke up after dreaming I was working on a database to take care of Don. That’s the kind of dream I get when I’m not sleeping enough.

I’m also a little short on links today. One of the big changes the past few days has been in the evening surfing: instead of watching TV with a laptop in my lap, surfing for cool links for you, I’ve had Don in my lap. He doesn’t know how to find cool links yet. That means fewer links for you. It may continue that way for a while.

The week is either flying by or dragging, depending on the moment. I’ve had two days of surprisingly productive work while tending a new puppy, and mostly answering his calls to go outside in time. But I also feel as though I’m already two days behind. I think it’s that I’ve been forced to multi-task a lot more, which means that I don’t get the full satisfaction of completing many of the things I’m working on. Sure I get to check them off in Life Balance (if I remember), but that’s not the same without taking five minutes to sit back and say Ahh. That was a good job, self. I’m missing those five minuteses because I’ve been having to move right on to the next task.

Don’s doing well. Thanks to a tip from Julie at Coda, we’ve made huge progress on having productive trips outside. She said the magic words Easy Cheese and it all made sense. A nice little can you can set by the door (or in the jacket pocket, or both, since it never spoils) and which Don seems to love. Giving him a little dab of the orange goodness when he’s done has meant that he now rushes to finish his business so he can get his treat, rather than wandering around the yard trying to figure out whether it’s a play outing or not. He’s still easily distracted by birds or bunnies or such, and I’m still sometimes clueless (such as at 2:30 this morning when I figured he was done after having peed, and got called downstairs from him five minutes after crawling back into bed — Oh yeah. Number 2.), but I think we’re figuring each other out a little better.

Yesterday was pretty good. I got a handful of hours in working, plus managed to avoid any mishaps with Don. And then in the evening, my old roommate Bob, from 717 stopped by for a few beers. Bob’s doing pretty well, and Don did pretty well with company, though he did whine from his kennel for the first half-hour. Eventually he calmed down and got to come out and visit a bit.

This morning, I was busy trying to get caffeine in my while Don was eating breakfast. He decided he was done and pooped on the floor before I could get him outside. I guess they mean it when they say that if you can’t watch him constantly, he should be in the kennel. No big problem though. It was on the kitchen floor, and wiped up. And now there’s the paper towel outside giving him a clue as to what he should do where. Of course when we went outside, he decided to use the front lawn instead, but at least most of the mess was outside.

And yeah, you can probably expect a fair amount of dog-blogging around here for the next few days at least. This is all new and interesting to me, and even though I got along pretty well with other people’s dogs in the past, I’m learning a lot about how to deal with my own puppy.

Don

640x480(67k)

Saturday was a busy day. I went up to Mom’s, then headed across to Eden Valley, Minnesota (it’s a bit southwest of St. Cloud), where I picked up Don. He got carsick a couple times on the ride home. No big deal. It was mostly dry dogfood that was pretty easy to clean up. I’ll probably get a better picture of him sometime soon, but for now, when he’s out of his kennel, he’s active enough that it’s tough to get a picture of him that isn’t an extreme close-up of a nose.

On Sunday, he woke me up at 3:30 am to go outside. I was impressed and happy that he did that rather than making a mess. Then at 8 we were at PETsMART so he could get the Puppy Bath, Brush & More + Trim package. I didn’t get a bow or bandana for him when he was done, though. I guess they forgot. I also picked up a car carrier for him, a gate for the basement stairs, and a poop scooper.

Unfortunately, since getting the poop scooper, I’ve had no opportunity to use it. The Housebreaking didn’t go so great yesterday. During the day, he went outside to pee a couple times, but usually as part of a larger outing (that may have been part of the problem). In the evening, after three times of him barking while being in his kennel, and making a trip outside with no business done, first he piddled on the floor (I should have spotted the signs and got him outside right then, but I missed ’em) and then when I put him back in the kennel so I could clean up the mess, he pooped in there. Argh. They say the first week is going to be the most frustrating.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with him. This particular Bichon Frise is proving to be relatively good with my allergies. And I need to make sure to educate myself more about crate training, since I’ve made a few mistakes that have encouraged Don to make messes in the house. Hopefully today will go more smoothly. It’s started out well, since he was ready to pee when I woke up at 6am, and then after 15 minutes eating breakfast, he was ready to go outside and give me something I can use the pooper scooper on.

He seems to think it’s horribly unfair that he has to be in the kennel while I’m working, but I imagine we’ll work that out over time. I may start doing more of the morning blogging from the laptop sitting in the kitchen where he can see me while I’m doing this sort of thing. It might make him happier. I guess we’ll see.

Yesterday worked out just fine. When faced with a deadline, I got serious about work and got everything done I needed to. And I had time to go out for some beers with friends in the evening, too.

Today, I’m trying to decide if I’m going to spend three hours driving to go look at some puppies. It’s an attractive idea, but there’s plenty I could be doing around the house, too. Guess I’ll figure that out one of these hours.

Not much more to say this morning. I’m in a reasonably good mood, but not feeling especially chatty. Oh well. There’s links.

Well, once again, I managed to get more done than I expected yesterday. Of course the things I didn’t complete are the ones that have deadlines today, so I’m managing to keep that sense of urgency I seem to thrive on.

In other news, I got the name of a breeder of Bichon Frises from a friend. Turns out the same breeder also breeds miniature schnauzers, and those are two of the flavors of dog that have moved to the top of my list. I’m hoping I can get everything wrapped up for the week today, and maybe head out there tomorrow morning to look at some dogs. Definitely won’t be buying tomorrow, but it should be informative. Other breeds I’m interested in finding breeders for are Portuguese water dogs, standard poodles and soft-coated Wheaten terriers, so if you know of someone who breeds those in Minnesota, I’d appreciate it if you dropped me a note.

This week seems to be going a bit better. Monday was a bust, but yesterday’s funky sleep schedule seems to have been a good thing. I spend the early morning working on content for the business site, then went back to sleep, and dealt with some long-overdue client work after waking up again, and while doing a few loads of laundry. Later in the afternoon, I went outside and cleaned up the pile of branches (putting them out for the city to take away), cleaned up the garden (all the plants are down now, and the compost from under the pile of leaves is scattered across the garden), and checked on the Camaro to see if I’d be able to start it to go donate it to Newgate. The battery is dead and about a half-hour’s work failed to open the hood (it’s jammed pretty good), so when I find the title, I may just end up junking it. Then again, maybe I’ll pry up the corner of the hood (hey, it’s already screwed up) so I can jump-start it. That’s a worry for later, though. It felt like an awfully productive day.

The evening was a trip to the bank just as they were closing (they had already locked the doors, but let me in to cash a check) and then some time spent with ex-cow-orkers down at Tuggs. A good time, and a welcome break. The gathering broke up earlier than I liked at the time, but it meant I was home and in bed early enough to get a good start on today. I think I may have committed adulthood there.

Today’s plan includes work for two clients, getting to the grocery store so I have breakfast food on hand, being around for the FedEx guy to receive a package, getting the rest of the content done (at least in first draft form) for the business site, and calling to see if the part I need for the fireplace has arrived yet. I don’t expect to get it all done today, but I don’t want to carry too many of those things over to tomorrow.

Note to self: Sudafed 24 Hour Tablets have peak speediness about 12 hours after taking. Taking one at 2:30 in the afternoon means you will be wide freaking awake at 2:30 the following morning. That’s where I find myself now, except I’ve already been awake for almost two hours, and figured I might as well get the day’s blogging done.

So why was I taking sudafed in the middle of the afternoon? Well, because I was up at mom’s yesterday, and just before lunch we’d picked up her dog from the dog-barber, and the ten-mile ride in her car with the dog had completely clogged my head. It took me a couple hours to buy the sudafed, and then almost another hour to get smart enough to actually take it.

The only real positives of yesterday are that we got mom off a medication that didn’t seem to be helping her and had side effects that were making her miserable, plus I got to help her out by running some errands for her. Good for mom, but not so good for me. I’m still stuck in a productivity wasteland, and am starting to seriously wonder whether I shouldn’t just take on some mindless scut-work like driving bus again so I get the cash-flow flowing on days when I can’t concentrate enough to be productive programming. That’s not really a viable option, but it’s starting to sound attractive nonetheless.

My usual morning schedule is compressed this morning, which feels as though it balances the weekend out somehow. Friday night we did the Oktoberfest thing at Gasthof zur Gemütlichkeit. After a stop at BW-3 Har-Mar for some more beer and some wings, and a brief panic over having lost my cellphone (it was sitting in my truck), I returned home to sleep. Saturday, more sleep. Sunday, some work on a few overdue web projects (remember that Saints season recap I keep promising? I’m still promising it), none of which got done because I got a little done on multiple projects, but didn’t finish any of them. Lazy weekend, busy Monday morning.

And that’s how life has felt these last few weeks. I’ve got a lot of things to do during the week, and when the weekend comes, I crash and burn and spend the entire time on the couch. Even though the weather over the weekend was relatively nice, I didn’t set foot outside the house between getting home Friday night and when I’ll head out this morning.

The one thing I did accomplish over the weekend was to fire up the furnace and pull the air conditioners out of the windows. When I woke up Saturday morning, I saw that the overnight temp had gotten down to 31.9°F (according to the thermometer on the side of my house) and that’s a good enough reason to turn on the heat. This week, I’m also hoping to get the fireplace up and running so I’ll have a little extra warmth in the living room if I so desire. The part I need should arrive on Wednesday or Thursday, and the guy who says he can install it and fix everything up should be able to stop by during the weekend.

Getting the fireplace running will probably call for some furniture rearrangement so I have a place to stash some wood, too. Oh yeah, and I’ve got to get some work done, too. And that’s how another busy week takes shape around here. Busy week makes for a slack weekend, which in turn makes for another busy week. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good and productive day. I made a ton of progress on a job I thought I was going to be late on, and handed off the latest version to the client before calling it a day. Yeah, it was about 9pm when I finished instead of before the close of business, but it still feels good to have gotten it done. And that with a trip to the bank in the morning, a mid-afternoon visit from the chimney sweep (my fireplace is mostly ready to go for the winter now), and a break about suppertime to head over for a steak at the Sporty. Good day!

I’m still behind on a ton of things, though. I’m going to try and get a bunch more paying stuff done today, and then spend the weekend putting together a bunch of pictures I’ve been promising you folks. With any luck, I’ll get ’em done before too much longer.