The Time Sink

Hello; goodbye. Actually: Goodbuy! If things are going as they should, I'm off to acquire copious quantities of toilet paper and copy paper. ...and a few other things. The weather has turned very summer-like here, with highs in the nineties; that translates to more morning trips and afternoons inside the office.

Speaking of things going as they should: Ken and Leslie Scott celebrated their twelfth wedding anniversary yesterday. Congrats! ...and many more!

It's a short one here this morning. With any luck, I'll run across some insanity out there and post it for you <g>.

Now they're talking gasoline prices in the two to three dollar range this summer. I think I'll look around and see if I can find the guy who said that was impossible. I'd like to think he's correct.

The mini-heat wave set several thousands of customers into blackout mode yesterday evening. PG&E, SoCal Edison, San Diego P&L, and Sacramento's SMUD all shared the wealth. Today may prove interesting as we may hit the century mark here in the central valley...

Me? I think I'll stay inside and see to planning what to do with the 'study' now that school's out for the semester...

Yep! Yesterday, I did come home to the century mark on the thermometer... Sheesh. ...and it's on us so quick it's taking a little time to adjust. Ah, well, maybe it will cool down to the lower nineties for the weekend.

Coupla' tidbits for the bargain hunters in the crowd: AT&T has a promo going that give you $50US in phone accessories if you upgrade your cell phone account. Since they've recently implemented new rate structures, you may be eligible for a 'better' deal at no increase in cost. ...and with some goodies thrown in.

...and if you're looking for an MP3 player and happen to need some memory (or vice versa): this week's Office Depot ad has a coupon for a free player if you buy some PNY memory. Let's see, the 256meg DIMM is going for $149US minus a $40 instant rebate and a $20 mail in rebate. ...and the player, if they have it in stock (limited supply in some areas). 128 DIMMs are slightly less. ...and as far as 'off the street' goes, Costco has Simple Technology 256s for $99US.

Last night was the first "sit out on the deck with a cold one and watch the moon come up over the redwoods" session of the summer. I sincerely wish you could have been there...

Wow a full day after a full evening... Yep, believe it or not, this reclusive curmudgeon actually got out of the house and attended a public event. ...and had a great time. As a matter of fact, I'll likely look in to attending next year if it is at all possible.

Whoa... Where does that type of attitude come from? Well, I watched and applauded as speaker after speaker went to the lectern to introduce a high school scholar-athlete. Each of the thirteen was a senior headed to a college or a university with a list of academic and sports honors that was frankly outstanding. ...and for most of the schools represented, the choice of a single candidate was extremely difficult.

You see, when I was on the streets, I didn't interact with this subset of the student body... To see this group and listen to their stories pretty much re-established my faith in the youth of this country. I read way too much in the papers about what is wrong with today's high school kids; to echo both the Sheriff and the Police Chief, "It's good to see what's right with them!"

...and here we go headlong into the weekend! A weekend with no teaching, I'll have you know. ...and a project list that has crashed three servers and two PDAs as I try to compile it. Sheesh.

This has been an exceptionally full week at work. Next week promises to be as much fun since we're gearing up a new project. No, not another county, but a major change in how we handle a portion of the market locally. Normally, companies like ours concentrate their efforts on the emergency segment of the business; in our case, the non-emergency side is growing significantly and we're addressing market needs in a fashion that hasn't been tried before. It will certainly be a fun ride.

...and as part of the ramp up, the Dan and Janeen soft shoe act will be on stage as before. Once again we'll prove how accurate we can be at hitting moving targets.

...and I am so ready for the weekend; this entire week seems to have been run as a reaction to events. I'm ready for a little quality time with those I care about and spent so little time with this week...

<sigh>

Then there's good news about someone I mentioned back in August. Her name was Sandy. She stopped by to see an old friend the other day... Way cool.

As it is here! We've had cloud cover all morning. I guess I should get my tail outside and get something handled out there...

Mother's Day... That pretty much says it all. Daniel and I visited my Mom (Shelley stayed home with Brad since he was sick); we all trekked off to the cemetery to place some flowers on Shelley's Mom's grave; then back home for a kick back session.

Daniel and I had worked plenty hard yesterday busting up the clay and hardpan on the north side that I figured a day on the beach wouldn't be too bad. All and all, it's been a nice day.