Last Friday I got home almost an hour late from work, and that threw off our whole evening. We ended up having cheese dip for dinner after eight, and watched a little bit of TV before Mom and Dad got in, about half past ten..
We chatted for about an hour, but nobody was interested in staying up to watch Iron Man, so we all went to bed around eleven.
Saturday morning T-- and Mom went to meet my little sister at some salon, leaving Dad and me to watch AB for a couple hours. While they were out, T-- finally got in touch with the McDonalds where we were having AB's birthday party, and learned that someone else already had it reserved. So three hours before the party was supposed to start, with guests coming in from multiple states, T-- frantically put together a birthday party at a Chick Fil-A across town, and we got managed to get everyone there.
"Everyone" is too long a list to spell out in detail, but in addition to B-- and E-- we had four of Mom's family from Dallas (three adults and a child), and my little sister's family. Everybody came back to the house afterward for cake and presents, and then all the family stuck around through the afternoon. It was six before the Dallas group headed home, and our house finally got a little quieter. I think AB had a great time, though.
After that, we were too exhausted to do anything but order pizza and watch TV. It was a fun evening nonetheless.
Sunday morning we went to church with Mom and Dad, and my little sister brought her family to join us. After that we all went to lunch at McDonald's, because Dad had been promising his granddaughters for the last two trips to take them, and he insisted on keeping his word.
Mom and Dad left after lunch. D-- got back in from Tulsa (where he'd been all weekend), but he didn't end up coming by. It was another quiet night.
Monday, during the day, D-- contacted me and offered to bring us some dinner. We settled on a Big Ed's burger, which T-- has been trying to get for nearly two months now without success. Monday night it worked out, D-- showing up with it around six in the evening. After dinner we watched the new shows (Chuck and Heroes), and then I got D-- almost caught up on Flight of the Conchords.
Tuesday I started some terrible, awful, miserable training at work, and I'll be doing that until sometime tomorrow. Ugh.
It was bad enough that I got home from work last night, again around sixish, and crashed on the couch. I expect I'll do the same again tonight. We had quesadillas for dinner and watched Biggest Loser until Obama started talking. Then T-- went to bed to read, and I balanced our checkbook.
Also, through all of that, I was working on my rewrite of Gods Tomorrow. I mentioned it in my last journal entry (and still haven't done the project report on it), but I have had a major rewrite of my NaNoWriMo novel pending ever since I finished it last November. I was rather dreading it, because it involved making some pretty huge changes to the narrative flow, but I think it worked out well. T-- is going to reread it for me soon, and I look forward to her feedback because she's had such glowing praise for the book up to now. If I broke, she'll definitely let me know.
Anyway, that's done. I'm hoping to make some progress on the sequels this weekend, but I don't have anything specific in mind.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Journal Entry: February 20, 2009
Yesterday I got some major rewrite work done on Gods Tomorrow, and I hope to get as much again done today. I'll do a project report on the Projects blog sometime today or tomorrow, in case you want more details.
After work yesterday, we had dinner at Taco Bell, then grabbed some Church's Chicken (by request) for N-- and K-- and N--'s parents, who are staying with them. We took dinner to their place about 6:30, and T-- held baby Jason while I corralled AB, and talked with them some.
Once they were done with dinner, we all moved to the living room and sat and talked for about an hour. Those first couple weeks home from the hospital are pretty bad -- I remember all too well -- but they seem to be falling into their stride. They were both looking a lot better than they had in the hospital, and I'm sure they'll be right back into their normal lives within a week or so.
We got home around 8:30, and watched some Conan with AB before we put her to bed. Then we didn't last long after that. T-- went to bed to read, and I took care of a few quick things in WoW, then headed to bed myself.
I woke up around 4:00 with a nosebleed, and had to take care of that, then AB woke us up crying around 5:30, and she'd gotten sick in her bed, so we had to clean that up before we could get her to go back to sleep. I went back to bed, then, but didn't really fall back asleep before my alarm went off.
So it was a rough night. Still, it's Friday, so all I've got to do is drag through the day at work, and then I've got a quiet, relaxing weekend to look forward to.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
After work yesterday, we had dinner at Taco Bell, then grabbed some Church's Chicken (by request) for N-- and K-- and N--'s parents, who are staying with them. We took dinner to their place about 6:30, and T-- held baby Jason while I corralled AB, and talked with them some.
Once they were done with dinner, we all moved to the living room and sat and talked for about an hour. Those first couple weeks home from the hospital are pretty bad -- I remember all too well -- but they seem to be falling into their stride. They were both looking a lot better than they had in the hospital, and I'm sure they'll be right back into their normal lives within a week or so.
We got home around 8:30, and watched some Conan with AB before we put her to bed. Then we didn't last long after that. T-- went to bed to read, and I took care of a few quick things in WoW, then headed to bed myself.
I woke up around 4:00 with a nosebleed, and had to take care of that, then AB woke us up crying around 5:30, and she'd gotten sick in her bed, so we had to clean that up before we could get her to go back to sleep. I went back to bed, then, but didn't really fall back asleep before my alarm went off.
So it was a rough night. Still, it's Friday, so all I've got to do is drag through the day at work, and then I've got a quiet, relaxing weekend to look forward to.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Project Report: Masked Fox Publishing blog
I created a new blog today under the name Masked Fox Publishing (the name I would use for my private company, if I ever ran into a reason to need a private company). It occurred to me while working on some of my recent project reports that some of the discussion that goes into them could be useful for other people working on similar projects -- whether they're Python programmers or writers wondering about the craft. Either way, they wouldn't have any real interest in knowing where I went to dinner last night.
By the same token, it occurred to me more than once while writing those project reports that the only people who would care about what I was saying were people already involved in the projects. So, while I really want to keep working on both sets of blog posts, I think it makes a lot of sense to maintain them separately. Luckily Blogger makes it really easy to do just that, all from one account.
In the future, I might make mention here of project reports for those of you interested, but I'll mostly save the detailed descriptions for that blog. I've got it linked in my Blogs list on the right, and of course you can always choose to Follow it (if you have a Blogger account) or add it to your RSS feed if you'd still like to read the project reports.
To simplify things, I've moved all my older project reports over there, and replaced the existing entries on this blog with links.
Status: In Development
By the same token, it occurred to me more than once while writing those project reports that the only people who would care about what I was saying were people already involved in the projects. So, while I really want to keep working on both sets of blog posts, I think it makes a lot of sense to maintain them separately. Luckily Blogger makes it really easy to do just that, all from one account.
In the future, I might make mention here of project reports for those of you interested, but I'll mostly save the detailed descriptions for that blog. I've got it linked in my Blogs list on the right, and of course you can always choose to Follow it (if you have a Blogger account) or add it to your RSS feed if you'd still like to read the project reports.
To simplify things, I've moved all my older project reports over there, and replaced the existing entries on this blog with links.
Status: In Development
Journal Entry: February 19, 2009
So, I don't think I mentioned this yet, but we've been having plumbing problems.
As part of the construction project to renovate the kitchen, we had to bypass an old copper drain vent that ran from the sink/dishwasher drain up through the roof (and right through our window). As I mentioned when describing the project, we just capped that off, knowing it could impact our plumbing, but hoping it wouldn't.
Then over the weekend T-- was doing a load of laundry and I stepped out in the garage to grab something, and noticed a stream of water creeping from the water heater cabinet down toward the door. We'd encountered that a couple years ago when we had a clog in one of our drains, and the washing machine would regularly flood the garage when it drained. I recognized the effect immediately, and given the timing I just assumed it had to do with the capped drain vent.
Yesterday I opened that closet in the garage and pulled off the sheet of drywall hiding the drainpipes, and discovered (remembered?) that there's a dedicated vent right above the washing machine drain. So that gave me some hope that a plumber would have access enough to fix the problem. It occurred to me that maybe that vent had been clogged for a while, and the one upstream was doing double duty. In that case, a quick snaking of the vent pipe would stop the drain from backing up.
So T-- called our favorite plumber, and he came out this morning and did exactly that -- snaked down through that vent, and it immediately fixed our problem. T-- even had a coupon from the phone book, so it cost less than a hundred bucks to get it taken care of. Before he left she told him exactly what we'd done, and he told us (as we had guessed, before our garage started flooding) that we probably wouldn't have any serious problems with the capped vent. So that's a relief.
Anyway, the plumbing situation is resolved now. Last night, we went to El Chico for dinner with my sister and her family. We showed up at 6:00, and the waiter didn't come around to take our orders until 6:30, and then the food didn't show up until about 7:10. That was a problem, because T-- had prepared cupcakes for a birthday party for AB at church, which started at 7:00. The girls ate quickly, and then my sister complained to the manager and we got a free dinner. Nice!
Then I took my brother-in-law back to the house while the rest of them rushed to church late for AB's party. It was Jeff's first time seeing the remodeled kitchen, and we spent half an hour discussing the work that had gone into it.
When the girls got home, we talked for a bit until the little ones started fussing, and then my sister took her kids home to go to bed. T-- and I watched Lost (a really good one, and frustratingly short even at 40 minutes), and a couple other shows before going to bed.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
As part of the construction project to renovate the kitchen, we had to bypass an old copper drain vent that ran from the sink/dishwasher drain up through the roof (and right through our window). As I mentioned when describing the project, we just capped that off, knowing it could impact our plumbing, but hoping it wouldn't.
Then over the weekend T-- was doing a load of laundry and I stepped out in the garage to grab something, and noticed a stream of water creeping from the water heater cabinet down toward the door. We'd encountered that a couple years ago when we had a clog in one of our drains, and the washing machine would regularly flood the garage when it drained. I recognized the effect immediately, and given the timing I just assumed it had to do with the capped drain vent.
Yesterday I opened that closet in the garage and pulled off the sheet of drywall hiding the drainpipes, and discovered (remembered?) that there's a dedicated vent right above the washing machine drain. So that gave me some hope that a plumber would have access enough to fix the problem. It occurred to me that maybe that vent had been clogged for a while, and the one upstream was doing double duty. In that case, a quick snaking of the vent pipe would stop the drain from backing up.
So T-- called our favorite plumber, and he came out this morning and did exactly that -- snaked down through that vent, and it immediately fixed our problem. T-- even had a coupon from the phone book, so it cost less than a hundred bucks to get it taken care of. Before he left she told him exactly what we'd done, and he told us (as we had guessed, before our garage started flooding) that we probably wouldn't have any serious problems with the capped vent. So that's a relief.
Anyway, the plumbing situation is resolved now. Last night, we went to El Chico for dinner with my sister and her family. We showed up at 6:00, and the waiter didn't come around to take our orders until 6:30, and then the food didn't show up until about 7:10. That was a problem, because T-- had prepared cupcakes for a birthday party for AB at church, which started at 7:00. The girls ate quickly, and then my sister complained to the manager and we got a free dinner. Nice!
Then I took my brother-in-law back to the house while the rest of them rushed to church late for AB's party. It was Jeff's first time seeing the remodeled kitchen, and we spent half an hour discussing the work that had gone into it.
When the girls got home, we talked for a bit until the little ones started fussing, and then my sister took her kids home to go to bed. T-- and I watched Lost (a really good one, and frustratingly short even at 40 minutes), and a couple other shows before going to bed.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Journal Entry: February 18, 2009
I'm finally over whatever ailment had me down all weekend. Last night I was still dragging some (and T--, too, but of an ailment all her own), but today I'm finally feeling pretty much well.
After work yesterday we had D-- over, and T-- made him steaks as a birthday treat. They turned out awesome, as did the homemade mashed potatoes and the fruit salad she threw together as a dessert.
Then we spent the evening watching TV. T-- gave AB a bath, and I spent some more time getting the fileserver up to speed, but all around it was a quiet night.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
After work yesterday we had D-- over, and T-- made him steaks as a birthday treat. They turned out awesome, as did the homemade mashed potatoes and the fruit salad she threw together as a dessert.
Then we spent the evening watching TV. T-- gave AB a bath, and I spent some more time getting the fileserver up to speed, but all around it was a quiet night.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Journal Entry: February 17, 2009
Last Thursday night, T-- and I went out for a Valentine's date. She was at the zoo when I first got home from work, which gave me time to wrap my gift to her (season 6 of Law and Order) and scribble down a quick card by way of iambic meter. Then T-- got home from the zoo, and shortly after D-- showed up to babysit AB.
T-- and I went up to the Old Chicago in Edmond, and had some fantastic pizza. Then on the drive toward the theater we looked up showtimes for Bride Wars, and learned that our options were either ten minutes in the past, or two hours later. So we decided to go shopping instead.
We found AB's birthday present at Toys R Us, then picked up some gellato and headed home. We spent most of the rest of the evening on the couch, watching Thursday night comedy.
Friday I woke up feeling sicker than ever, but I'd used up my RDO on Monday, so I came in to work anyway. Late in the morning, I started getting calls about K-- and N-- being at the hospital, with the baby apparently ready to come out (two weeks early). I cooled my heels until a little after noon, then finally decided to call it quits for the day. I figured chances were good I'd be spending the afternoon in the waiting room at the hospital, but if not I wouldn't mind taking the afternoon off to convalesce a little bit.
K-- and N-- ended up going home a couple hours later, but they were back that night and by 11:00 it was clear that it was really happening this time. I took K-- some dinner around midnight, and hung around until a nurse said they should probably get some sleep, and plan on having the baby in the morning.
N--'s mom came to crash our place, just to be close to the hospital, so the two of us got to the house between 1:00 and 2:00 Saturday morning, and it was a while before I fell asleep. When I finally did, I slept until about 11:00.
I got up and got dressed in time to take some lunch up to the hospital for K--. Things hadn't benn progressing very quickly at that point, so we spent about an hour waiting out in the waiting room, having lunch and talking with K-- and N--'s family as they arrived, and then finally gave up and headed home so an increasingly fussy AB could get a nap.
D-- called and asked if I could pick him up from Best Buy, where he was getting a new stereo installed in his car, but halfway there he called and told me they couldn't do it, so I took care of a couple errands and headed back home. Right about then AB was waking up from her nap and K-- called to say things were starting to happen, so we headed back up to the hospital.
We got to see N-- briefly, then went out to wait in the sitting room with the family, and E-- (joined shortly by B--), and eventually even D-- showed up. We had a real party going on in the waiting room.
Of course, as you'll know by now, the baby was born at 6:14. We waited another forty minutes to get in and see him, congratulate K-- and N--, and then we headed home, leaving them to be with their visiting family.
I dropped T-- and AB off, and ran up to Edmond to grab some barbecue from Steve's Rib. When I got back to the house D-- was there, and we ate and watched some TV for a while, then T-- headed to bed early and I threw The Big Lebowski in while D-- and I played WoW.
Around 11:00 again, K-- called and asked if I could bring him some dinner. D-- came with, and we took some food up and got to visit with them for a while before they decided they were ready to get some sleep. I remember what it's like those days in the hospital -- you're desperate for some diversion, like a good conversation with visitors, but even more so for sleep. We cleared out, and got back to the house around 1:00.
Just before we left I'd gotten caught up in a project on the computer, organizing my fileserver, and instead of going to bed I picked up where I'd left off, so I was up until nearly 3:00 working on that. Then I woke up Sunday morning on time to get to church, but I still wasn't over my sinus infection, and my stomach rebelled something fierce. So I stayed home, waited it out, and then didn't go along when T-- headed to the hospital for a quick visit after church.
We spent the afternoon on the couch, T-- watching Law and Order and me working on the fileserver. Later in the afternoon Toby called to say he and Gwyn wanted to visit K-- and N-- at the hospital, and asking for the room number. They suggested we could get together for dinner afterward, and we were all for it.
We ended up going to Texas Roadhouse, and spent a couple fun hours with the Nances. It's always good to see them. Afterward we headed home, and spent the rest of the night the way we'd spent the afternoon.
Monday was President's Day, so I was off work. I slept in again, but woke up in time to pick D-- up from an automotive shop that was going to install his new stereo. That was up in Edmond, and I took him straight from there to the hospital, where T-- was already waiting for us.
We spent a while in the waiting room, chasing AB around and chatting with the family, then got to see K-- and N-- and little baby Jason all in a crowd. We packed the room, and everybody who was healthy (read, "not me") got to hold the baby, and we had a grand old time. We also learned they would be going home that evening, which was good news to all, I'm sure.
We left after a bit, sometime early afternoon, and I dropped D-- off at his place then went home to play some WoW. A few hours later, 5-ish, he called to tell me that the automotive place had been unable to install his stereo (but had waited six hours to tell him that), and he needed a ride to go pick up the car. Ugh.
We got back from that errand a few minutes before our babysitter arrived to watch AB. Then we (D-- and T-- and I) headed up to the mall for a quick meal in the food court, and then an eight o'clock showing of Coraline.
The movie was great. Nightmarish, but in a good way. It's billed as a scary fairy tale, and it does the job. T-- and D-- liked the artistic style a lot. I wasn't really a fan, but I did enjoy what they did with the story. It was captivating.
We got back home after ten, so that was pretty much it for the day. Bed, sleep, and now it's Tuesday and I'm back to work.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
T-- and I went up to the Old Chicago in Edmond, and had some fantastic pizza. Then on the drive toward the theater we looked up showtimes for Bride Wars, and learned that our options were either ten minutes in the past, or two hours later. So we decided to go shopping instead.
We found AB's birthday present at Toys R Us, then picked up some gellato and headed home. We spent most of the rest of the evening on the couch, watching Thursday night comedy.
Friday I woke up feeling sicker than ever, but I'd used up my RDO on Monday, so I came in to work anyway. Late in the morning, I started getting calls about K-- and N-- being at the hospital, with the baby apparently ready to come out (two weeks early). I cooled my heels until a little after noon, then finally decided to call it quits for the day. I figured chances were good I'd be spending the afternoon in the waiting room at the hospital, but if not I wouldn't mind taking the afternoon off to convalesce a little bit.
K-- and N-- ended up going home a couple hours later, but they were back that night and by 11:00 it was clear that it was really happening this time. I took K-- some dinner around midnight, and hung around until a nurse said they should probably get some sleep, and plan on having the baby in the morning.
N--'s mom came to crash our place, just to be close to the hospital, so the two of us got to the house between 1:00 and 2:00 Saturday morning, and it was a while before I fell asleep. When I finally did, I slept until about 11:00.
I got up and got dressed in time to take some lunch up to the hospital for K--. Things hadn't benn progressing very quickly at that point, so we spent about an hour waiting out in the waiting room, having lunch and talking with K-- and N--'s family as they arrived, and then finally gave up and headed home so an increasingly fussy AB could get a nap.
D-- called and asked if I could pick him up from Best Buy, where he was getting a new stereo installed in his car, but halfway there he called and told me they couldn't do it, so I took care of a couple errands and headed back home. Right about then AB was waking up from her nap and K-- called to say things were starting to happen, so we headed back up to the hospital.
We got to see N-- briefly, then went out to wait in the sitting room with the family, and E-- (joined shortly by B--), and eventually even D-- showed up. We had a real party going on in the waiting room.
Of course, as you'll know by now, the baby was born at 6:14. We waited another forty minutes to get in and see him, congratulate K-- and N--, and then we headed home, leaving them to be with their visiting family.
I dropped T-- and AB off, and ran up to Edmond to grab some barbecue from Steve's Rib. When I got back to the house D-- was there, and we ate and watched some TV for a while, then T-- headed to bed early and I threw The Big Lebowski in while D-- and I played WoW.
Around 11:00 again, K-- called and asked if I could bring him some dinner. D-- came with, and we took some food up and got to visit with them for a while before they decided they were ready to get some sleep. I remember what it's like those days in the hospital -- you're desperate for some diversion, like a good conversation with visitors, but even more so for sleep. We cleared out, and got back to the house around 1:00.
Just before we left I'd gotten caught up in a project on the computer, organizing my fileserver, and instead of going to bed I picked up where I'd left off, so I was up until nearly 3:00 working on that. Then I woke up Sunday morning on time to get to church, but I still wasn't over my sinus infection, and my stomach rebelled something fierce. So I stayed home, waited it out, and then didn't go along when T-- headed to the hospital for a quick visit after church.
We spent the afternoon on the couch, T-- watching Law and Order and me working on the fileserver. Later in the afternoon Toby called to say he and Gwyn wanted to visit K-- and N-- at the hospital, and asking for the room number. They suggested we could get together for dinner afterward, and we were all for it.
We ended up going to Texas Roadhouse, and spent a couple fun hours with the Nances. It's always good to see them. Afterward we headed home, and spent the rest of the night the way we'd spent the afternoon.
Monday was President's Day, so I was off work. I slept in again, but woke up in time to pick D-- up from an automotive shop that was going to install his new stereo. That was up in Edmond, and I took him straight from there to the hospital, where T-- was already waiting for us.
We spent a while in the waiting room, chasing AB around and chatting with the family, then got to see K-- and N-- and little baby Jason all in a crowd. We packed the room, and everybody who was healthy (read, "not me") got to hold the baby, and we had a grand old time. We also learned they would be going home that evening, which was good news to all, I'm sure.
We left after a bit, sometime early afternoon, and I dropped D-- off at his place then went home to play some WoW. A few hours later, 5-ish, he called to tell me that the automotive place had been unable to install his stereo (but had waited six hours to tell him that), and he needed a ride to go pick up the car. Ugh.
We got back from that errand a few minutes before our babysitter arrived to watch AB. Then we (D-- and T-- and I) headed up to the mall for a quick meal in the food court, and then an eight o'clock showing of Coraline.
The movie was great. Nightmarish, but in a good way. It's billed as a scary fairy tale, and it does the job. T-- and D-- liked the artistic style a lot. I wasn't really a fan, but I did enjoy what they did with the story. It was captivating.
We got back home after ten, so that was pretty much it for the day. Bed, sleep, and now it's Tuesday and I'm back to work.
Other than that, it's just things and stuff.
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