Bah, another long recap.
Last Tuesday morning while I was at work, T-- called me to tell me our refrigerator wasn't working. She'd opened the freezer and found condensation on the ice bucket. She picked up some dry ice during the day, and the refrigerator finally started going again, but we'd been meaning to get a new one for a while (although up until then it had been for convenience reasons, not need).
So Tuesday night we went out refrigerator shopping while D-- watched AB. We found one we liked at Lowe's, but they didn't have it in stock. We shopped until 8-ish, then took some dinner home to D--, and watched some TV while I tried (unsuccessfully) to find some user reviews of the model we'd picked out.
Then Wednesday morning, while I was at work, T-- called to tell me she'd gone to another Lowe's in town, and they had one in stock, and they said they could deliver the following day. After work Wednesday, we met D-- and K-- and N--, as well as my little sister and her family, at Qdoba for some burritos. Good stuff. Then D-- dropped me off at home, and I spent the rest of the evening converting my HTPC from Boxee to XBMC. (If that sentence doesn't already make sense to you, you wouldn't be interested in the explanation, either.)
Thursday morning while I was at work, T-- called to tell me the delivery guys had brought the fridge, but they weren't able to connect the water supply for the icemaker, because the connector on the end of our supply line was the wrong size. Bah. Then we intended to go to the gym after work, but we didn't. Instead we ordered some pizza from Pizza Hut, which was fabulous. And I finished Grizzly Hills with my Shaman.
Friday morning while I was at work, T--called to tell me the plumber had come by to connect our fridge, and it was going to cost us $100. That's a chunk of change for a quarter-inch connector on a copper pipe, but whatever. It's done and that's what matters.
We had D-- and K-- and N-- (along with N--'s parents) over for dinner Friday night, and T-- made chili. It was fantastic, and we only ate about half of the batch she made up, so I've got plenty of leftovers. Yay! We watched some silly videos on YouTube, I tried to show off my new XBMC plugin to D-- and K-- (and failed, because XBMC doesn't like Vista), and then K-- and N-- headed home.
D-- hung around and we played WoW while T-- watched TV, then right around the time I should have gone to bed, D-- and I decided to watch Pineapple Express. Funny stuff. Better writing than Half Baked, but lacking the whimsy. Still, an excellent flick if you think stoners and F-bombs are hilarious.
Saturday morning I got up in time to take AB to the gym, while T-- stayed home to get the house ready for a baby shower for N--. I worked out for about an hour, then picked up some lunch on the way home. After that I sat on the couch and played WoW while all of N--'s friends came over to help T-- set up for the party. Eventually there were just too many women in the house, though, and I finally bolted.
I stayed at D--'s place for a couple hours, and when T-- called me to come home I found all the guests gone and the house already completely cleaned up. That was unexpected. T--'s parents were there, though (that was expected), and we went out to dinner at Ole, my current favorite Mexican place for the way they prepare their complimentary salsa and queso.
After dinner we introduced T--'s parents to a couple of our favorite TV shows (Leverage and Big Bang Theory), and then I stayed up late playing WoW while the rest of them retired early. I finished Grizzly Hills with my Death Knight.
Sunday morning I had a goofy dream, and when I woke up I spent some time trying to figure out how to turn it into a story, and in the process came up with a story idea entirely unlike the dream (except that it's also goofy). I've always wanted to do something in an Oscar Wilde style, and I think this could be just the project for that.
Anyway, after church we had leftover chili for lunch, then I stayed at home with AB during her nap while T-- and her parents went shopping. They got back in time to watch another episode of Leverage before heading home to Wichita.
Then I spent the evening on the computer, and T-- watched some TV and did some painting. It was a relaxing end to a pretty packed weekend.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Journal Entry: January 20, 2008
Back from a long weekend and, as always, hating to be at work.
Not that there's anything to complain about with regard to my job. I just hate having to work. Call it a character flaw.
Friday was my Regular Day Off, so I stayed up late Thursday night playing WoW, slept in on Thursday, then went to IHOP for brunch with T--. After that we ran by Petsmart to pick up a new litter box for the cats, and spent some significant amount of time there just letting AB marvel at all the captive animals. She went wild.
Then in the evening we went to County Line Barbecue with D-- for dinner, grabbed some flavored Rum on the way home, and played a little Rock Band before we turned on Tropic Thunder. T-- didn't exactly hate it, but it wasn't enough to keep her up past 11:00, either. I made it to the end, and then some. I was up until 2-ish playing WoW.
Saturday morning T-- went to a baby shower for N-- at church (which is well-documented and beautifully-illustrated on N--'s blog), and left me home alone. I did a little project for her (took down a pantry door and painted over the exposed wood from the hinges), and of course played some WoW. We had a pretty quiet afternoon, and then around 5:30 T-- headed to her friend Rebecca's to do some scrapbooking in the evening. I kept AB.
D-- came over to help out, and brought the same pizza that had resulted in catastrophic emissions from AB the last time we'd tried the same setup, so I ran to McDonalds to get her a Happy Meal. I expected her to object, since we were eating the pizza right in front of her, but she just loves Happy Meals too much to have mustered any real resentment.
We tried to Cars and Lion King, and finally settled on hooking up the drums for Rock Band and AB pounded away until I put her to bed. After that, it was a fairly quiet night. Instead of jumping into WoW once AB was dealt with, I figured out how to recover the music from T--'s iPod and spent the rest of the night trying to get it relabeled. Without even realizing it, I stayed up until 2:00 again working on that.
So Sunday morning I slept through church. T-- and I took AB to Mazzio's for lunch, and she got her pizza after all. She also counted up to six, with a little coaching. She can do her ABCs up to "G," too, if she doesn't know we're listening. She keeps going after that, but it's mostly gibberish.
Then Sunday night I intended to go to small groups, but I spent the afternoon feeling incredibly sick. I laid down to take a nap around 3:30, hoping I'd feel better after an hour, but T-- woke me up to tell me she was leaving and talked me into staying in bed.
I got up about an hour later feeling better, and spent the rest of the evening on the computer, working on various projects.
Then yesterday I had off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We ran by N--'s in the morning to check out her newly-appointed nursery and make a mess of her coffee table trinkets, then grabbed some barbecue from Steve's Rib and took it home for lunch. Not a lot of variety in our meals this weekend, but a lot of deliciousness!
When AB went down for a nap, I got out some more paint and put a new coat on the fireplace mantel, which was showing some nasty signs of wear and tear. Luckily AB took a long nap, so all the paint was dry by the time she got up.
Then in the evening T-- made some steaks for dinner, and we watched a couple new shows plus the first few episodes of season one of Psych. It was fun, and I got to sleep early enough that I was on time for work this morning, quite in spite of the holiday.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Not that there's anything to complain about with regard to my job. I just hate having to work. Call it a character flaw.
Friday was my Regular Day Off, so I stayed up late Thursday night playing WoW, slept in on Thursday, then went to IHOP for brunch with T--. After that we ran by Petsmart to pick up a new litter box for the cats, and spent some significant amount of time there just letting AB marvel at all the captive animals. She went wild.
Then in the evening we went to County Line Barbecue with D-- for dinner, grabbed some flavored Rum on the way home, and played a little Rock Band before we turned on Tropic Thunder. T-- didn't exactly hate it, but it wasn't enough to keep her up past 11:00, either. I made it to the end, and then some. I was up until 2-ish playing WoW.
Saturday morning T-- went to a baby shower for N-- at church (which is well-documented and beautifully-illustrated on N--'s blog), and left me home alone. I did a little project for her (took down a pantry door and painted over the exposed wood from the hinges), and of course played some WoW. We had a pretty quiet afternoon, and then around 5:30 T-- headed to her friend Rebecca's to do some scrapbooking in the evening. I kept AB.
D-- came over to help out, and brought the same pizza that had resulted in catastrophic emissions from AB the last time we'd tried the same setup, so I ran to McDonalds to get her a Happy Meal. I expected her to object, since we were eating the pizza right in front of her, but she just loves Happy Meals too much to have mustered any real resentment.
We tried to Cars and Lion King, and finally settled on hooking up the drums for Rock Band and AB pounded away until I put her to bed. After that, it was a fairly quiet night. Instead of jumping into WoW once AB was dealt with, I figured out how to recover the music from T--'s iPod and spent the rest of the night trying to get it relabeled. Without even realizing it, I stayed up until 2:00 again working on that.
So Sunday morning I slept through church. T-- and I took AB to Mazzio's for lunch, and she got her pizza after all. She also counted up to six, with a little coaching. She can do her ABCs up to "G," too, if she doesn't know we're listening. She keeps going after that, but it's mostly gibberish.
Then Sunday night I intended to go to small groups, but I spent the afternoon feeling incredibly sick. I laid down to take a nap around 3:30, hoping I'd feel better after an hour, but T-- woke me up to tell me she was leaving and talked me into staying in bed.
I got up about an hour later feeling better, and spent the rest of the evening on the computer, working on various projects.
Then yesterday I had off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We ran by N--'s in the morning to check out her newly-appointed nursery and make a mess of her coffee table trinkets, then grabbed some barbecue from Steve's Rib and took it home for lunch. Not a lot of variety in our meals this weekend, but a lot of deliciousness!
When AB went down for a nap, I got out some more paint and put a new coat on the fireplace mantel, which was showing some nasty signs of wear and tear. Luckily AB took a long nap, so all the paint was dry by the time she got up.
Then in the evening T-- made some steaks for dinner, and we watched a couple new shows plus the first few episodes of season one of Psych. It was fun, and I got to sleep early enough that I was on time for work this morning, quite in spite of the holiday.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Journal Entry: January 15, 2009
I had a busy lunch break yesterday. Called Sprint, TiVo, Blockbuster, Pikepass, and AAA Fire & Casualty Insurance, mostly doing account maintenance. I also picked up some text messages for my cell phone, so I can send and receive without worrying how much it's costing me.
After work we met D-- and K-- and N--, along with N--'s mom and step-dad at Taco Cabana. We also had my niece Sophy, who T-- was babysitting for the night, so it was quite a crowd.
Dinner was fun, then afterward K-- and D-- and I went home to play Rock Band while the rest went a-churching. I also showed off my new media center setup (it's some slick software on a cheap computer), which is pretty sweet.
We played through about half the No Doubt songs that D-- had gotten. I'm working on transitioning to Lefty mode, which is surprisingly challenging. The biggest problem I have is sight-reading. There's all these standard patterns that I've memorized on normal mode, and they look just enough different reversed that I can't automatically recognize them anymore. So I'm stuck thinking through every single beat again, like when I first started playing.
There's a few things I was doing wrong, that I can see clearly now with this transition, though. So that's good. I just need to get back up to speed.
Once T-- got home from church K-- went home (picked up by N--), and D-- headed to his place to make a raid. T-- and I watched an old episode of Numb3rs through Boxee's internet browser (CBS now has a well-stocked web channel, along with Comedy Central and everybody on Hulu). Meanwhile I played some WoW, messed with remote settings, and subscribed to some shows on Hulu. It was fun.
And over too soon. I went to bed around 11:30, and had trouble getting up this morning. Luckily tomorrow's RDO and Monday's a Federal Holiday. I was this close to taking a day of vacation today, and making it a five-day weekend, but I gave in at the last minute. Four days should be good enough.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
After work we met D-- and K-- and N--, along with N--'s mom and step-dad at Taco Cabana. We also had my niece Sophy, who T-- was babysitting for the night, so it was quite a crowd.
Dinner was fun, then afterward K-- and D-- and I went home to play Rock Band while the rest went a-churching. I also showed off my new media center setup (it's some slick software on a cheap computer), which is pretty sweet.
We played through about half the No Doubt songs that D-- had gotten. I'm working on transitioning to Lefty mode, which is surprisingly challenging. The biggest problem I have is sight-reading. There's all these standard patterns that I've memorized on normal mode, and they look just enough different reversed that I can't automatically recognize them anymore. So I'm stuck thinking through every single beat again, like when I first started playing.
There's a few things I was doing wrong, that I can see clearly now with this transition, though. So that's good. I just need to get back up to speed.
Once T-- got home from church K-- went home (picked up by N--), and D-- headed to his place to make a raid. T-- and I watched an old episode of Numb3rs through Boxee's internet browser (CBS now has a well-stocked web channel, along with Comedy Central and everybody on Hulu). Meanwhile I played some WoW, messed with remote settings, and subscribed to some shows on Hulu. It was fun.
And over too soon. I went to bed around 11:30, and had trouble getting up this morning. Luckily tomorrow's RDO and Monday's a Federal Holiday. I was this close to taking a day of vacation today, and making it a five-day weekend, but I gave in at the last minute. Four days should be good enough.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Journal Entry: January 14, 2009
Let's see...what did I miss?
Friday night of last week we were invited to B-- and E--'s place for dinner and a movie, with commentary. T-- and AB and I went, as well as D-- and K-- and N--. We had barbecue and chips and dip, and watched Star Wars Episode 3 with the Rifftrax audio from the guys who did MST3K. After that, T-- took AB home, but I hung around to watch Top Gun get made fun of. It was awesome.
Saturday morning T-- and I went to the gym, and then I spent the rest of the day playing WoW.
Sunday morning T-- and I went to church, and then I spent the rest of the day playing WoW.
Oh! I also received my new Windows Media Center Extender Remote from NewEgg, which is an IR remote plus a receiver that plugs into the computer through USB. All I really wanted was the receiver. I spent much of the last five days in frustration, trying to figure out how to make the computer respond to keypresses, and finally figured it out last night. I got home from work, took a short nap, and then basically spent the rest of the night setting up the remote. It was irritating, but now it's awesome.
Oddly enough, the software that was crucial to making it work is the same program I aggressively learned a couple months ago to let me run multiple instances of WoW at once (namely, AutoHotKey). If I hadn't done that, I still wouldn't have a clue how to get Windows to recognize and respond to the IR signals.
So that's awesome.
I skipped Monday night, but and you'd be safe guessing it mostly consisted of me playing WoW, but I actually had a brief business meeting right after work (with D-- and a coworker at The Dugout, discussing a programming project), and then spent an hour playing Rock Band with T-- and AB. Then I spent the rest of the evening playing WoW.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Friday night of last week we were invited to B-- and E--'s place for dinner and a movie, with commentary. T-- and AB and I went, as well as D-- and K-- and N--. We had barbecue and chips and dip, and watched Star Wars Episode 3 with the Rifftrax audio from the guys who did MST3K. After that, T-- took AB home, but I hung around to watch Top Gun get made fun of. It was awesome.
Saturday morning T-- and I went to the gym, and then I spent the rest of the day playing WoW.
Sunday morning T-- and I went to church, and then I spent the rest of the day playing WoW.
Oh! I also received my new Windows Media Center Extender Remote from NewEgg, which is an IR remote plus a receiver that plugs into the computer through USB. All I really wanted was the receiver. I spent much of the last five days in frustration, trying to figure out how to make the computer respond to keypresses, and finally figured it out last night. I got home from work, took a short nap, and then basically spent the rest of the night setting up the remote. It was irritating, but now it's awesome.
Oddly enough, the software that was crucial to making it work is the same program I aggressively learned a couple months ago to let me run multiple instances of WoW at once (namely, AutoHotKey). If I hadn't done that, I still wouldn't have a clue how to get Windows to recognize and respond to the IR signals.
So that's awesome.
I skipped Monday night, but and you'd be safe guessing it mostly consisted of me playing WoW, but I actually had a brief business meeting right after work (with D-- and a coworker at The Dugout, discussing a programming project), and then spent an hour playing Rock Band with T-- and AB. Then I spent the rest of the evening playing WoW.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Journal Entry: January 9, 2009
Wednesday night we had dinner at Subway with my little sister's family, and D--. Much of the talk was of a "Biggest Loser"-style contest Dad has recommended for our family. We're all participating, as far as I know. We'll see how that goes.
Afterward, T-- took AB to church and D-- dropped me off at home. I did some work on the computer and played some WoW. When T-- got home from church, she watched some TV, and then we went to bed. Quiet night.
Last night...not so much. T-- was in Tulsa for work yesterday, so when I got off work I had to drive out to the babysitter's place to get AB. She probably hadn't taken a nap all day, because she was cranky in the car, and finally fell asleep as we got home. I put her down for a short nap.
She woke up 45 minutes later, just as I was about to get her. Then D-- went with us over to K-- and N--'s to watch the big game. N-- made burgers and celebratory OU cupcakes (both of which were awesome), and then we watched the game (which wasn't).
T-- got in around 7:30. She came straight from work to K-- and N--'s place, and after about an hour she took AB home so both of them could get some rest.
I could say more, but I don't want to talk about it.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Afterward, T-- took AB to church and D-- dropped me off at home. I did some work on the computer and played some WoW. When T-- got home from church, she watched some TV, and then we went to bed. Quiet night.
Last night...not so much. T-- was in Tulsa for work yesterday, so when I got off work I had to drive out to the babysitter's place to get AB. She probably hadn't taken a nap all day, because she was cranky in the car, and finally fell asleep as we got home. I put her down for a short nap.
She woke up 45 minutes later, just as I was about to get her. Then D-- went with us over to K-- and N--'s to watch the big game. N-- made burgers and celebratory OU cupcakes (both of which were awesome), and then we watched the game (which wasn't).
T-- got in around 7:30. She came straight from work to K-- and N--'s place, and after about an hour she took AB home so both of them could get some rest.
I could say more, but I don't want to talk about it.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Journal Entry: January 7, 2009
Monday's writing project never saw another word, after that blog post. I haven't given up on it yet, but I don't see myself making much progress at all before Friday, which means I'll have a hell of a lot of catching up to do.
On a positive note, I did go to the gym after work on Monday. T-- talked me into it, and we spent a little over an hour there. AB is finally able to recognize the gym and knows what to expect when we get there (which is to say, other kids and lots of toys). Monday night she didn't want to leave when we were done.
On the way home, we stopped by my little sister's place to pick up T--'s new party game and my leftover Dan Dan Noodles (it's a weird story how they got to be there), and learned that the Dan Dan Noodles were no longer there. I bore no ill will toward whichever Iverson ate them, because who could possibly resist that siren call for four days? But I did find myself mourning the loss. So instead of going home, we placed a To Go order at P F Chang's, and picked up six meals' worth of food for the two of us. I ate two of them Monday night, and set the other two aside for lunches this week.
It was, needless to say, a silly and expensive decision, but one I made with gusto.
After dinner, T-- and I got all caught up on Leverage. The first seven episodes are all as good as the pilot, so if you decide to try it out and you like the pilot, you'll like the rest. If you hate it, you can save yourself some time and skip the rest. We liked it.
Yesterday was a busy one at work, and afterward I got a haircut before I went home. When I finally got home, T-- and D-- were waiting on me to have dinner. T-- tried out a new cube steak recipe she found, and she's excited about trying a couple more new recipes soon. That's a hobby we all benefit from.
D-- and I spent some time talking about iPhone applications we could write to make ourselves rich, and may have come up with a decent plan or two. We'll see. I'm not looking forward to learning a new API (especially the GUI aspect of it), but there is a real potential for financial reward, and I've never dealt with that before in any of my hobbies. I'm not sure I know how to.
I also spent some time getting my computer connected to the TV, and ironing out little problems. It was a busy night of lots of little tasks, so it felt too-short and swiftly-passing, but I think in the end I got a lot accomplished.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
On a positive note, I did go to the gym after work on Monday. T-- talked me into it, and we spent a little over an hour there. AB is finally able to recognize the gym and knows what to expect when we get there (which is to say, other kids and lots of toys). Monday night she didn't want to leave when we were done.
On the way home, we stopped by my little sister's place to pick up T--'s new party game and my leftover Dan Dan Noodles (it's a weird story how they got to be there), and learned that the Dan Dan Noodles were no longer there. I bore no ill will toward whichever Iverson ate them, because who could possibly resist that siren call for four days? But I did find myself mourning the loss. So instead of going home, we placed a To Go order at P F Chang's, and picked up six meals' worth of food for the two of us. I ate two of them Monday night, and set the other two aside for lunches this week.
It was, needless to say, a silly and expensive decision, but one I made with gusto.
After dinner, T-- and I got all caught up on Leverage. The first seven episodes are all as good as the pilot, so if you decide to try it out and you like the pilot, you'll like the rest. If you hate it, you can save yourself some time and skip the rest. We liked it.
Yesterday was a busy one at work, and afterward I got a haircut before I went home. When I finally got home, T-- and D-- were waiting on me to have dinner. T-- tried out a new cube steak recipe she found, and she's excited about trying a couple more new recipes soon. That's a hobby we all benefit from.
D-- and I spent some time talking about iPhone applications we could write to make ourselves rich, and may have come up with a decent plan or two. We'll see. I'm not looking forward to learning a new API (especially the GUI aspect of it), but there is a real potential for financial reward, and I've never dealt with that before in any of my hobbies. I'm not sure I know how to.
I also spent some time getting my computer connected to the TV, and ironing out little problems. It was a busy night of lots of little tasks, so it felt too-short and swiftly-passing, but I think in the end I got a lot accomplished.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Journal Entry: January 5, 2009
I haven't posted since before Christmas, and that's down to laziness and forgetfulness more than anything else.
Christmas, we spent in Wichita with T--'s family. I took along a laptop, and whatever time I didn't spend on other events, I spent either sleeping or playing WoW. You can take that for granted, and I won't bother to spell it out.
We got in Wednesday, Christmas Eve, and spent a couple hours discussing Gods Tomorrow. T--'s parents had been reading it aloud together, and they'd made a point to finish it before we got there to visit. So I brought our stuff in and Karla made us up some sandwiches for lunch and then we sat around the table and talked about my book. And really for the rest of the afternoon, during pretty much any lull in the conversation, I'd pull out some other question about their opinion on this or that, and they were always happy to answer. I got some fantastic feedback from them, as well as a markup. I told them I'd decided to make Gods Tomorrow my NaNoWriMo project for the indefinite future, so I would work on one every year. As we were leaving Sunday, Karla said, "Do we really have to wait until November to read the next one?" That warmed my heart.
But back to Christmas Eve. Wednesday night, T--'s family (40-something guests, if I remember right) all gathered at her mom's house, and we had a big fancy dinner, then we went downstairs and gathered around the tree for a gift exchange. Before too late, everyone headed home so the kids could get in bed before Santa came.
Then Christmas was a pretty quiet day, with just the five of us for the most part. Her brother Matt brought his family and her sister Nicki brought her family for dinner (so only about 12 of us Thursday night), and then we watched The Dark Knight late into the night.
Friday I was left home alone for most of the morning, while T-- and her parents took AB out shopping the after-Christmas sales. They came back after lunch, then went out again while AB took a nap. When they got back, we all went over to D--'s mom's house for a big dinner.
She invited both of the Vickis (our friends from high school), with their husbands, and Kali (another friend from high school), so we had 12 at dinner again that night. It was some fantastic beef brisket, and I had to fight AB for whatever was on my plate. She finally went to her mom when T-- got ice cream for dessert, so I took the opportunity to grab a third helping of brisket for me, and I delighted in it.
Afterward, D-- and I went to see The Spirit at a late showing, and I heartilly recommend it. It's weird. Absolutely weird. As weird a movie as you've ever seen, in parts. It has a feel very similar to Sin City, but it's adventuresome and playful where Sin City is dark and brutal. Or, to put it another way, The Spirit is to Sin City as Iron Man is to The Dark Knight. So there you go.
Saturday I don't much remember. Just lots and lots of WoW, I guess. I know T-- and her parents went to a museum downtown while I watched AB, but that's all I really remember. Then Sunday morning we headed home when her parents headed to church.
That put me home in time to watch the Cowboys' devastating loss to the Eagles. Damn.
After that we had dinner with the Austins, who hadn't seen the game yet, and I didn't have the compassion to warn them to skip it. Instead, I just fought to hide the disappointment from them. That was made easier by the fact that, after watching the whole fourth quarter, I was completely dead inside.
The week after Christmas was a weird one at work. I worked three days, and it was pretty quiet around the office. I discovered a questing guide for the new zones in WoW, by one of my favorite guide writers, and I decided to start entering that into my TourGuide Addon format, which is something of a huge project (I'm guessing forty to fifty hours, total, give or take ten). It's work I can do in small chunks, though, and pretty rewarding.
In addition to that, I'm also still working on my financial software, and K-- got me working on our media library software again, too -- a project I haven't touched in a year and a half. I'm crazy busy.
So then Wednesday night rolls around, and my little sister had invited us all to her place for New Years Eve. Mom and Dad came in for that, too, and we all got together over there. We had some delicious snacks and drinks, and rocked out on Jeff's new XBox. D-- and I left around 9:30 to bring AB home, with Dad and T-- caught up in a 7-song set. For our part, we greeted the new year in Northrend.
Thursday I was off work, of course, and Mom and Dad spent it with us. We had lunch with D-- and K-- and N-- at P. F. Chang's, then Dad and I spent the afternoon on our laptops while Mom and T-- went out shopping. They brought back fixins for chili, and we took a big pot of it over to my little sister's place for dinner. K-- and N-- came for that, too, and then afterward we played Partini, a new party game T-- had picked up. It was her misfortune that Jeff's family is about as enthusiastic about party games as I am. So it wasn't much of a success, but I'm sure when she finds some fun people to play it with, it will excell.
We got home late-ish, and Friday I had to work. I tarried long enough at the house for my parents to wake up so I could say bye to them, then went in to the office. I expected to be the only one there, but over the course of the morning about half of my team showed up. Still, nobody got too much accomplished.
Saturday, T--'s friend Rebecca took her out for a morning at the spa, as a Christmas present, and T-- took Rebecca out to an afternoon at a crop as her Christmas present, so between the two T-- was gone from 9:30 in the morning until 6:00 at night. I watched AB for the day, I guess as my Christmas present to both of them. Or, more accurately, as my one day of being a dad. Whatever.
I took AB to the gym in the morning. A couple times over the past week or so, I'd been to the gym with K--. Saturday was the third. Strength training, I'm basically at the same place now as I was when I quit going last June. That's both astonishing and encouraging. In terms of aerobic endurance, I'm much worse off. And, of course, weight-wise.
Anyway, I've been back three times now, and the story is that I'm a regular again. We'll see.
After that, K-- came over and we had leftover chili for lunch, then I put AB down for a nap and we spent the afternoon working on our media library software. Specifically, we spent it researching new GUI builders, because the one we'd used a year and a half ago, that was obsolete then, is no longer available at all. So before we can make any changes, we have to completely rebuild the GUI. Yuck.
T-- came home from the crop about 6:00, and K-- went home to meet N--, who was just getting off work. We talked about getting together for dinner, but it was really too much effort all around. Instead I ran up to Schlotzky's and picked up some sandwiches for T-- and me. We ate, she printed out some more pictures to scrapbook, and then she ran back to the crop to get the most out of the all-day pass she'd bought.
By then AB was ready for bed, though. I put her down, then played some WoW and watched the pilot of Leverage, which my dad had recommended. It tries to make a TV show with the same feel as Ocean's Eleven. I've watched the first two episodes so far, and I plan to watch the rest. It's not as good as the movie, obviously, but it's certainly not bad. I like it much better than Fringe, and I sat through six episodes of Fringe.
Sunday morning I slept through church, then went to lunch at On the Border with T-- and K--. After that, I pretty much played WoW for the rest of the day. We watched Mamma Mia (which I'd picked up for T-- on Friday), then K-- and N-- brought pizza over for dinner, then T-- and I watched the pilot of Leverage and the second episode. Then it was bedtime.
Today.... I know I don't usually do today, but this seems worth mentioning. Today I started on the sequel to Gods Tomorrow. I intend for it to be a long-running series, murder mysteries set in the world established by Gods Tomorrow. I'm toying with the idea of doing NaNoWriMos every odd-numbered month this year. If I go with that, then I'm starting January four days late, and that's going to put the crunch on.
If I go with that...I'll have a pretty damn hectic year. And I'll probably write my first truly terrible novel since The Poet Alexander. On the other hand, if only couple of the six books I'd write turn out to be any good, that still puts me on par with my best year to date. And if four or five of them turn out quality, then I'm looking at doubling my portfolio in one year. That's nothing to sneeze at.
So we'll see. In all likelihood, I'll scrap the project a couple weeks in. Then again, last year at this time I was saying that about my gym membership, and that one lasted six months before I took a crippling injury. So maybe I'll get accomplish something after all.
For now I have 656 words and a basic premise. I'll keep you posted as it develops.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Christmas, we spent in Wichita with T--'s family. I took along a laptop, and whatever time I didn't spend on other events, I spent either sleeping or playing WoW. You can take that for granted, and I won't bother to spell it out.
We got in Wednesday, Christmas Eve, and spent a couple hours discussing Gods Tomorrow. T--'s parents had been reading it aloud together, and they'd made a point to finish it before we got there to visit. So I brought our stuff in and Karla made us up some sandwiches for lunch and then we sat around the table and talked about my book. And really for the rest of the afternoon, during pretty much any lull in the conversation, I'd pull out some other question about their opinion on this or that, and they were always happy to answer. I got some fantastic feedback from them, as well as a markup. I told them I'd decided to make Gods Tomorrow my NaNoWriMo project for the indefinite future, so I would work on one every year. As we were leaving Sunday, Karla said, "Do we really have to wait until November to read the next one?" That warmed my heart.
But back to Christmas Eve. Wednesday night, T--'s family (40-something guests, if I remember right) all gathered at her mom's house, and we had a big fancy dinner, then we went downstairs and gathered around the tree for a gift exchange. Before too late, everyone headed home so the kids could get in bed before Santa came.
Then Christmas was a pretty quiet day, with just the five of us for the most part. Her brother Matt brought his family and her sister Nicki brought her family for dinner (so only about 12 of us Thursday night), and then we watched The Dark Knight late into the night.
Friday I was left home alone for most of the morning, while T-- and her parents took AB out shopping the after-Christmas sales. They came back after lunch, then went out again while AB took a nap. When they got back, we all went over to D--'s mom's house for a big dinner.
She invited both of the Vickis (our friends from high school), with their husbands, and Kali (another friend from high school), so we had 12 at dinner again that night. It was some fantastic beef brisket, and I had to fight AB for whatever was on my plate. She finally went to her mom when T-- got ice cream for dessert, so I took the opportunity to grab a third helping of brisket for me, and I delighted in it.
Afterward, D-- and I went to see The Spirit at a late showing, and I heartilly recommend it. It's weird. Absolutely weird. As weird a movie as you've ever seen, in parts. It has a feel very similar to Sin City, but it's adventuresome and playful where Sin City is dark and brutal. Or, to put it another way, The Spirit is to Sin City as Iron Man is to The Dark Knight. So there you go.
Saturday I don't much remember. Just lots and lots of WoW, I guess. I know T-- and her parents went to a museum downtown while I watched AB, but that's all I really remember. Then Sunday morning we headed home when her parents headed to church.
That put me home in time to watch the Cowboys' devastating loss to the Eagles. Damn.
After that we had dinner with the Austins, who hadn't seen the game yet, and I didn't have the compassion to warn them to skip it. Instead, I just fought to hide the disappointment from them. That was made easier by the fact that, after watching the whole fourth quarter, I was completely dead inside.
The week after Christmas was a weird one at work. I worked three days, and it was pretty quiet around the office. I discovered a questing guide for the new zones in WoW, by one of my favorite guide writers, and I decided to start entering that into my TourGuide Addon format, which is something of a huge project (I'm guessing forty to fifty hours, total, give or take ten). It's work I can do in small chunks, though, and pretty rewarding.
In addition to that, I'm also still working on my financial software, and K-- got me working on our media library software again, too -- a project I haven't touched in a year and a half. I'm crazy busy.
So then Wednesday night rolls around, and my little sister had invited us all to her place for New Years Eve. Mom and Dad came in for that, too, and we all got together over there. We had some delicious snacks and drinks, and rocked out on Jeff's new XBox. D-- and I left around 9:30 to bring AB home, with Dad and T-- caught up in a 7-song set. For our part, we greeted the new year in Northrend.
Thursday I was off work, of course, and Mom and Dad spent it with us. We had lunch with D-- and K-- and N-- at P. F. Chang's, then Dad and I spent the afternoon on our laptops while Mom and T-- went out shopping. They brought back fixins for chili, and we took a big pot of it over to my little sister's place for dinner. K-- and N-- came for that, too, and then afterward we played Partini, a new party game T-- had picked up. It was her misfortune that Jeff's family is about as enthusiastic about party games as I am. So it wasn't much of a success, but I'm sure when she finds some fun people to play it with, it will excell.
We got home late-ish, and Friday I had to work. I tarried long enough at the house for my parents to wake up so I could say bye to them, then went in to the office. I expected to be the only one there, but over the course of the morning about half of my team showed up. Still, nobody got too much accomplished.
Saturday, T--'s friend Rebecca took her out for a morning at the spa, as a Christmas present, and T-- took Rebecca out to an afternoon at a crop as her Christmas present, so between the two T-- was gone from 9:30 in the morning until 6:00 at night. I watched AB for the day, I guess as my Christmas present to both of them. Or, more accurately, as my one day of being a dad. Whatever.
I took AB to the gym in the morning. A couple times over the past week or so, I'd been to the gym with K--. Saturday was the third. Strength training, I'm basically at the same place now as I was when I quit going last June. That's both astonishing and encouraging. In terms of aerobic endurance, I'm much worse off. And, of course, weight-wise.
Anyway, I've been back three times now, and the story is that I'm a regular again. We'll see.
After that, K-- came over and we had leftover chili for lunch, then I put AB down for a nap and we spent the afternoon working on our media library software. Specifically, we spent it researching new GUI builders, because the one we'd used a year and a half ago, that was obsolete then, is no longer available at all. So before we can make any changes, we have to completely rebuild the GUI. Yuck.
T-- came home from the crop about 6:00, and K-- went home to meet N--, who was just getting off work. We talked about getting together for dinner, but it was really too much effort all around. Instead I ran up to Schlotzky's and picked up some sandwiches for T-- and me. We ate, she printed out some more pictures to scrapbook, and then she ran back to the crop to get the most out of the all-day pass she'd bought.
By then AB was ready for bed, though. I put her down, then played some WoW and watched the pilot of Leverage, which my dad had recommended. It tries to make a TV show with the same feel as Ocean's Eleven. I've watched the first two episodes so far, and I plan to watch the rest. It's not as good as the movie, obviously, but it's certainly not bad. I like it much better than Fringe, and I sat through six episodes of Fringe.
Sunday morning I slept through church, then went to lunch at On the Border with T-- and K--. After that, I pretty much played WoW for the rest of the day. We watched Mamma Mia (which I'd picked up for T-- on Friday), then K-- and N-- brought pizza over for dinner, then T-- and I watched the pilot of Leverage and the second episode. Then it was bedtime.
Today.... I know I don't usually do today, but this seems worth mentioning. Today I started on the sequel to Gods Tomorrow. I intend for it to be a long-running series, murder mysteries set in the world established by Gods Tomorrow. I'm toying with the idea of doing NaNoWriMos every odd-numbered month this year. If I go with that, then I'm starting January four days late, and that's going to put the crunch on.
If I go with that...I'll have a pretty damn hectic year. And I'll probably write my first truly terrible novel since The Poet Alexander. On the other hand, if only couple of the six books I'd write turn out to be any good, that still puts me on par with my best year to date. And if four or five of them turn out quality, then I'm looking at doubling my portfolio in one year. That's nothing to sneeze at.
So we'll see. In all likelihood, I'll scrap the project a couple weeks in. Then again, last year at this time I was saying that about my gym membership, and that one lasted six months before I took a crippling injury. So maybe I'll get accomplish something after all.
For now I have 656 words and a basic premise. I'll keep you posted as it develops.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
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