Last Friday in August, 2010

We are almost 2/3 through 2010. Can you believe how quickly the year has passed? Next thing you know, we'll have to remember to write 2011 on checks. Do any of you still write checks? Do you physically write anything anymore?

If I get a company phone, I can upgrade it to an iPhone for $100. I have resisted so far since I don't really want to be on a 24x7 leash, and they don't really need to reach me that badly. The family thinks I might as well so we can have the company provide a data plan and we can check internet while out driving, I get an upgrade to my old iPod, and we might could drop the cost of my cell phone. Thoughts?

Everything has a cost, of course. And cable companies are good examples.

I am not sure of the plans for the weekend. Alison's roommate is away, so she'll probably hang out with us. They are scheduled to hook up her cable tomorrow.

I think I am going to pick up some Torx wrenches this weekend and disassemble my old iMac. I was reading about the capacitor problem and what it takes to fix it. So, the first step is to verify that is what is wrong. Worst case, I pull the hard drive and put it into an external case. That should recover all the data on it.

My boss is on vacation next week, so I will be her acting delegate. Luckily, I do not have to go to all her meetings. Hopefully, though, the other responsibilities will be minimal and I can get caught up a bit on my assignments.

OK, I need to put on my work hat and do stuff. You guys finish your coffee and lock up when you leave. Take care.

I'm Late. I'm Late for a Very Important Date

Well, not really for a specific engagement, but I am running a little late in getting going on blogging. Today's CoV took a little longer than normal to create. I needed to work through the concept so I could reach the final punch line and that took some planning. Here is the comic strip.
Alison came by last night, but forgot the garage door opener. So, she had to wait until Kathie or I got home, and both of us were running late. We had a nice little meal together and caught up a bit. Then, off to Target for a TV antenna so Ali can watch TV until she gets cable.

It seems like I missed some emails yesterday. I see them now, but I don't remember them being in my email Inbox before. Oh well, I need to address a couple of them soon. So, I will write what I can in the next five minutes and then end it all. By all, I mean this post entry.

I brought the last of the left-over Lyndsay spaghetti for lunch today. Mmm mmm. I can hardly wait. And today's fruit is a pear. Yesterday was a banana and Monday and Tuesday were apples. I just remembered that I am in a catered lunch meeting today, so I will save the spaghetti for tomorrow. D'oh.

Ahh! Only one more minute for blogging. The pressure is on. What else can I think of to say and type in for the next 45 seconds? Yes, I do see y'alls comments each day. I do not usually respond, though. Thanks for participating.

Time's up. Bye.

Political Hot Potato

I voted in the primaries yesterday. Did you? As I noted in yesterday's post, I was there before the polls opened and was out in less than 5 minutes. I don't think it will go that quickly in November. There will be quite a few more positions to vote for. I need to go investigate how to vote by mail. We have done that in the past, but somehow, we lost that action for the last few elections.

Let's make fun of the parties, shall we?
Only two meetings today, but one is 2 hours and one is 1-1/2 hours. Still, I should get some things done today.

I am ready for this humidity to move on. 108F with 57% humidity is a tad uncomfortable. Where's that dry heat when we need it? They are forecasting that is should only reach 99F next Monday. All right! Coat weather.

We are doing a nice arrangement of Angels We have Heard on High in Chorale this Christmas. Well, it will be nice once we learn it. I think we are practicing 4-5 Christmas songs already. No, it's never too early for Christmas songs.

I am disappointed in myself. Sure, it's warm in the house until the A/C kicks on at 8pm, but I really need to get the family reunion photos processed and lay out a photo book. The book part will flow once I review the shots and pick the ones worth publishing. Maybe I can start knocking out one vacation day's worth of shots an evening. Then, I can also generate one page in the photo book per night. I will not be finished by September 1. Part of it is that, when my iMac dies, it locked up my current iPhoto album and all its pictures. And the older Mac I am using will not run the latest iPhoto, so I cannot even link to my backup copy of the photos. Still, I do have the reunion shots, so no more excuses.

I think that writing this post is no excuse for not getting to work. Sorry, folks. Gots to go. Y'all be careful out there.

Taking a Swag at Humor

Today's post title is a clever way of tying in today's CoV. It also implies that what I write every day may be humor to me, but you may not find it funny. That would not be a surprise. I am often my own biggest fan. Anyway, let's go ahead and look at Clarity of Vision.
Mmm. We had some spaghetti left over from Lyndsay's party for dinner last night. It was still good. In fact, I brought the rest to work for lunch.

Mom is still sick. And I heard Carey has it, too. Sounds like a contagious cold. I think I will avoid both of them for a while.

Alison is still living down in Gilbert. That's good. Hopefully, the house is not too hot in the evenings.

Did you vote today? Here in AZ, even Independents can vote in a party primary. You have to choose which party's ballot you want. So, I stopped in on my way to work. Our polling place is about 1/4 mile from home, so it is very convenient. Even in today's closed up, air conditioned society, they still have to go out when the polls open and yell, "The polls are now open. The polls are now open for voting." I cannot imagine too many people heard it.

So, let me now announce, "The workplace is now open. You may now commence work." I'd better heed the call. Thanks for reading.

Empty Nest Again

Alison has moved in with her roommate as of Saturday night. We have our empty nest back again. Unfortunately, now the cat meows at our door at night instead of hers. Maybe it's time he went back to being an outdoors cat. We started keeping him in after that incident where he was locked in a neighbor's shed for a few days. Also, he is getting a bit slower and less agile, so we'll probably still keep him inside.

I think the only thing Ali needs to do is find a way to get her room cooler. We may have to go with a window A/C. Her roommate prefers the house at around 78F. She said she tried it at 76F one night, but it was just too cold. I keep ours at 71F at night and 74F on the weekends. Yes, there is quite a difference. I guess we'll be investigating that.

Did Ali want to move out because we were intolerant? I don't think so. Now that I have mentioned intolerance, though, I can safely transition to today's cartoon.

What else? The GRANDS were good during their stay at our place Friday night. It gave Kyle and Lyndsay a chance to stay up past 4am to get their house ready for a party. And it was a fun party, too. We celebrated Lyndsay's grandfather's birthday, and then played some games. Then yesterday, our Chorale had an afternoon concert at a convalescent center.

What games did we play on Saturday? For sure, we played Bang! However, one of the outlaws never shot the Sheriff. Maybe he missed the point of being an outlaw. Then, we played Catchphrase. Lyndsay and I wanted to play Ticket To Ride, a card game where you need certain colored train cars to reach specific destinations. However, we could not find anyone else to play with us. We needed Alison there.

I just got back after talking to a coworker. So now, I am cutting into work time in order to finish this post. Is there anything else? Oh, Mom is still sick with a cold or something, so y'all can pray for a speedy recovery. Kathie still has a little pain near her kidneys, so pray for that. That's all I can think of for now.

Thank you for reading this far. We'll pick it up here tomorrow. You do not have any homework, so enjoy your day.

The End of a Long Week

This week has seemed longer than most. I don't know if it was my eye twitch, or extra-heavy demands at work, or what. Still, I am really glad it is Friday. True, we do still have to get through today, but I think I can make it. Unfortunately, I have meetings at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 2pm and 3pm. I'll try to fit some work in around them. One of them is in my building, and the others are over at a main campus building. There goes my covered parking.

I can often end my introductory paragraph with clever words that lead to the topic of CoV. Not today. Here is my comment on the nationwide egg recall.
Hey, I'm sorry. You cannot create humor out of life without breaking a few eggs.

Well, we had our annual haircut and swim party last night. We went all fancy and had Sonic for dinner. Tonight, Bella and Kendall are sleeping over. Tomorrow, out to Queen Creek and KLIK's house.

Ali is thinking this will be her final weekend living at home. Whoo hoo! Did that sound too enthusiastic? No, we all think it is a good next step for her.

110F today. I had hoped we left most of that behind with July. Yeah, don't give me any of that "It's a dry heat" nonsense. It is still too hot on your hands when you open a car door. The steering wheel is still painful to hold. When I get home, the car key is hot enough to fry an egg (even one with salmonella). It's still hot.

Hey, I need to decide if I am going to Disneyland on the next trip. I have not been in a while, primarily due to this new job and the paucity of vacation days (paucity. good word, huh? It would be even cooler if I knew what it meant). The park will be done up for the holidays, so it'll be purty. The weather will be cooler, so the park will be comfortable. But Disney prices have gone up, so it won't be cheap. All the others have annual passes, but it'll cost me $100/day just to get in. Plus, I'll need to pay my part of gas, hotel, food. And, I'll burn more days of vacation. But it has been a while since I went with the girls to the Happiest Place on Earth. Ahh, decisions, decisions.

I don't have time to lollygag with y'all. I've got to get something accomplished before I start the meetings block at 10am. Sorry to bail, but you understand. Have a good weekend.

Looking Good?

My right eye is definitely feeling untwitchy today. Hopefully, it was a one-time thing. I do need to get my eyes checked, though. I have not done so since Kyle worked for the optometrist. Well, that's too long.

Speaking of eyes, I had to follow a comic strip about covering one eye with one about covering both. Take a look at my other blog to see an alternate ending and what I wanted the title of the comic to be.

Haircuts tonight at our house by Lyndsay's mother, so KLIK (Kyle, Lyndsay, Isabella, Kendall) will be coming over. Then, tomorrow, Isabella and Kendall are spending the night. Then, Saturday, over to KLIK's house. Then, Sunday, we'll see them at church. It seems to be feast or famine with our times together.

Only 3 meetings today. That's good, because the boss needs some data cleaned up ASAP.

I tried the bacon/turkey grilled cheese at Jack-in-the-Box last night. Well, I don't know their name for it, but that's what it was. Anyway, a bit too cheesy for me. Still, it was tasty, especially with some hot sauce.

Nothing else is going on right now. I came up with a cartoon for tomorrow on my commute. I wanted to go ahead with the double patch idea today to tie in with yesterday's, so I am saving the other. I will give you a hint. The radio story I heard was about the Salmonella egg recall.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Now, I think I'll ramble off to work stuff. Y'all stick around and finish the rest of my bacon/turkey grilled cheese, if you want.

Here's Looking At You, Kid

Well, maybe not. My right eye has developed a twitch which sent me home early yesterday to rest it. So far, it is better today, but it is still early. I moved my monitor back a little and I will take more breaks today in case it is caused or exacerbated by the computer screen. I took an allergy pill in case it is allergies. And I will try and stay calm and relaxed today. Why did it have to be my right eye? That is my stronger eye.

So of course, I had to cover this in today's CoV.

The GRANDS are spending Friday night with us. I don't know if Alison will still be here or not.

Oh come on. I was only out for a while yesterday afternoon, and yet, the questions and interruptions have already started today? Looks like it could be a long one. I also have four meetings on my schedule, so there goes half the day anyway. I only lead one of them.

Fine. I need to get my head into office mode, so I will turn a blind eye to the rest of you. Get it? Blind eye? All right, see you later.

Man! I Feel Like a Woman

That's right. Sometimes, you've got to sing a fun song, even if it is sung from the viewpoint of the other sex. Check out today's CoV about a Shania Twain song.I'm secure enough in my manhood to harmonize when a song calls for it.

Six meetings today. Really? No time for actual work then. Still, I guess my actual work is whatever the company says it is.

We did not do any move-related work last night. Still, it looks like this could be the last weekend Alison lives at home. We are all a little nervous and excited at this next chapter in her life.

I need to go clean up my to-Do list before the first meeting at 8:30am, so I am signing off. No, not singing off. That was covered in CoV. See you mañana.

A New Week Begins

I hope this week mellows a bit from the last. I do like staying busy, but I also enjoy breathing and having time to think and plan.

One thing I did not have to do this morning was think and plan the CoV cartoon. I had written my first draft last Friday. I did tweak the final panel. You can see more details over in the Clarity of Vision blog.
We almost have Alison moved to her new place. All the furniture is set up. We are moving clothes now and should finish this week or this coming weekend. It looks very nice. She would like to use her dishes, but they are up in the stinkin' hot attic. I guess I will go up early Saturday morning before it gets painfully hot up there.

Lindsay put up some photos from her MX trip. Go check them out. You can even see her swimming with Crash from Finding Nemo.

No, I did not work on photos or photo books this weekend. Maybe I'll get to work on that after I am through helping Ali.

Lyndsay and family now have pet hermit crabs. True, that is a more unconventional pet, but dogs and cats are so 20th century. We should see them this weekend. I do not know what their names are.

Football season is beginning again. Dallas lost, but Arizona won. Anyway, football season often means I wind up watching a game or two on Sundays instead of catching up with House or CSI or whatever taped during the week. It's probably a good thing Ali is moving out, since she let me know she would rather watch anything than football.

I am now ready to begin the workweek. You have my permission to do the same. Let's visit more tomorrow.

Running Late

No, of course, I am not actually running, but I am running late. I could not get logged in earlier, so I am nearing the end of my time available for blogging. I will keep it short and sweet for Friday, August 13, 2010.

Yes, today is the only Friday 13th this year. Next year, there is only one in May. So, I felt I needed to take advantage of this in my CoV.
Some people probably feel that way when they talk to me. Some of you may feel that way when you read my daily posts. Hey, I'm not forcing you to be here.

We will start (finish?) moving Alison to her new place this weekend. That means a trip to Ikea tonight or in the morning. I feel sorry for those of you who do not live in a location with Ikea nearby. It is always fun to walk through and get decorating ideas. Sure, you can read the catalog, but I like to touch things and get a feel of how sturdy they are, and what the colors look like in person. I would tell you what things we are getting, but I cannot remember exactly.

No news from Queen Creek, so I imagine everything is OK. News from home is that Alison's and Kathie's classes are underway, with at least one challenging student in each class. Hmm, I am glad God led me away from teaching. I do have news of a friend whose husband is being laid off, so prayers are requested.

Time to prepare for 9am and 10am meetings. Have a great weekend and I'll catch you early next week.

Mac and Cheese Today

No, I am not talking about my lunch. I host a Tuesday-Thursday morning meeting called Monitor and Control meeting. This is usually shortened to just the MAC Meeting. However, a team member who hails from England said they would likely call it Mac and Cheese over there. Now, many call it that. Plus, it just makes a clever title for today's post.

What does not sounds clever to me is the idea of not watching TV anymore. As I was creating this comic strip, I started trying to think of TV programs that people might watch to list in panel three. No, I don't watch all of them, but I do watch several. And no, I am not planning to give up TV. Now that we have DVRs, you could just time shift some of your favorites to the weekend and that would free up some week night time. Sure, we do that some, but we still watch an hours or so each night.
I am toying with either a milk allergies cartoon or a weather idea for tomorrow. I'll let you know in 24 hours or so.

No swim party tonight. So to all of you who were planning to come over, you should not.

Of late, work assignments have been coming in fast and furious. I was trying to create a list so I can prioritize my work, and I was not even sure where I had all the different elements written down to consolidate them. That's too much. Still, I'd rather have this problem than looking for work.

I guess Bella started Pre-K yesterday. Kathie called to ask how it went, but I am not sure we got an answer. Wow, they grow up so quickly. In fact, even as I write this, I heard she was engaged. Well, maybe not that quickly.

Because my company blocks access to Facebook, I hardly ever check it. I know Kathie is backing off from it a bit, also. So, if you are passing photos or info to us, drop us an email or comment on one of these posts and we will know to check Facebook.

I came up with an idea for a series based on Facebook sound-alikes, but have never finished fleshing out how each strip would flow. For example, a Facebook alternative for believers would be called FaithBook or maybe GraceBook.

Have you ever heard of jumping the shark? It means when something has passed the point of being worthwhile. It comes from an episode of Happy Days late in the series where Fonzie water-skied over a shark. I think my mind just did that on today's post, so it is time to sign-off. Check in tomorrow to see what I chose for CoV and find out if my mind returned from the shark jumping.

Whoo Hoo, Halfway Through

I don't know about y'all, but I have been crazy busy this week. And it's only Wednesday morning! So reaching the halfway point of the week is a minor miracle. Just three meetings today, so maybe I can actually get some of my assigned work completed. After all, I want to still be employed at the end of the week.

I started thinking about how to transition from the personal comments to today's CoV, but nothing tasteful came to mind. So, let's just read it together.
Yes, there was a Port-a-Potty blocking some of a freeway this morning. I'm creative, but this would never have occurred to me otherwise. The radio announcers could not make any jokes about this incident, so I felt it was my duty. Also, some obvious statements came to mind.

We had a East Valley Chorale concert last night at a retirement village. They had a nice theater where we sang and a pretty good crowd attended. So, while we did not get to practice new songs, we did finish 45 minutes earlier than our normal finish time on Tuesdays.

Since I was not home, we did not do anything about Alison's new place last night. I think she did some school planning work anyway.

My eyes just glazed over and I started some work thinking. I hate when that happens while we are visiting. However, it did, so I am going to go answer some emails. You are welcome to stay, but close up when you leave. Thanks.

750 and Counting

This is my 750th post. Whew! I am quite sure none of you can say you have read them all. I am not sure I have, either. Still, thanks for reading a few.

Are you a planner? I am, sort of. In fact, maybe today's comic speaks to how I plan to plan.
Another trip to Ikea last night. We have almost certainly chosen the furniture Ali wants for her new place. We used Excel to draw her room and arrange the items in it. So we might go get it later this week. If we are going to assemble it over at her new place, though, I want her to turn on the A/C before we get there. It will be reaching over 110F again this week, so I am sure the house will get over 90F.

We ran out of bottled water at work yesterday. I am having to use filtered water from the tap. Gross.

Only three meetings on tap for today. The last one is from 4-5pm, though, and we have a Chorale concert tonight. I will just have to leave at 5pm, even if it is not over. Well, I plan to, anyway.

Speaking of meetings, the first is at 8:30am, and I lead it, so I should plan it now. Let's call Post 750 a wrap, OK? OK!

Adding Color to Life

Alison and I spent the weekend painting her room in the house she is sharing with a friend. We did three of the four walls in 'Pecan Sandie.' And there is one dried drop on my glasses that I have not gotten off yet because I do not want to scratch them. So, that dictated what today's Clarity of Vision would be about. Of course, I do not drink, but I needed a vehicle to drive the central idea of the comic.
Repairing the pool aerator a couple of weeks ago has made a big difference in swimability. The pool is a nice temperature now. Kendall and Bella came over with their parents Friday night and we made an evening of it. We headed over to their house for game night on Saturday. Let me think. We played Ticket to Ride card game, Monopoly Deal card game, and Catchphrase. Do any of you have new games that you have played recently? The guys I used to play with during lunch moved to another building, so I do not learn about new games anymore.

I carried my laptop home to do a little work over the weekend. I did not do any work. I also did not play with my photos. I was painting and gaming, remember? That was definitely more fun than working.

Both Kathie and Alison have kids starting today. Kathie is still teaching first grade, while Ali has moved to fourth grade this year. Can you believe how early classes start here in AZ? And yet, they still go through the end of May. Do you think they are learning more with these extra days than we did back in the day?

Nothing else comes to mind for today's post. I suppose I will let you leave early, with a reminder to be in your seats before the bell rings tomorrow.

HAPPY ANNY TO US

Let's go ahead with the trivial for today. That means I will insert today's CoV right now.And now, let's get to the meat of today's blog. It is our 34TH ANNIVERSARY today. Whoo Hoo. Thanks, Kathie, for putting up with me for so long. I love you. Now, let's start our next 34 years together.

Tonight is our annual Friday night swim party with the GRANDS. It had been on Thursdays, but not this week. And tomorrow, we paint Alison's room at her new place.

As you can see, there are no additional pictures in today's post. Alison and I went paint supply shopping last night. Kathie had to attend PTO at school.

BTW, I am posting on the Mac side today. Internet Exploder is acting up over on my Windows 7 side. I guess I need to have someone check it out.

I see it is time to do some work, but I will let you down slowly. I won't just dash away and you wonder what happened to me. I won't drop you like a hot potato. Well, I spent so long looking for analogies that I need to leave now. Sorry.

Not Too Many Meetings Today

I woke up with the words to the Harry Belafonte song "All My Trials" in my mind. Do you remember them?

Hush, little baby, don't you cry,
You know your mother was born to die
All my trials, Lord, soon be over.

Hopefully, I am not a prophet on this. I heard that song all the time at my grandmother's house on her Live at Carnegie Hall album. It also had "Banana Boat Song," but that's a song for another day.

I also thought of Keith's pet raccoon while washing my hair. I got soap in one ear and was rinsing it our with both hands and I thought of the 'coon sneaking up over the edge of the couch and combing through my hair and digging in my ear. Does all this talk of the past mean I am old? Probably.

However, I still fly occasionally. So, let's look at airline fees.
By the way, I am working on the MAC OS side right now because I could not login to blogger.com in Windows. I suppose I should ask a techie-type about it when one comes around.

Did y'all check out the virtual choir the other day as mentioned in comments? Really cool, but I think it was assembled from a bunch of pieces, not totally recorded live. Still, look back and find it.

We are supposed to reach 112F today. Not killer, but not really fun, either. At least it is a dry heat, right?

Only a couple of meetings today, but there is still much to do. Or as Willy Wonka put it in the original film, "There's so little to do and so much time. Wait! Strike that. Reverse it." I am ready to go do it and get ready for the 8:30am conference call. You go do something, too. Before i go, though, I will mention that my last sentence also reminded me of something from the past. I was in a regional choir and we sang some songs that used Robert Frost poems. One of them was 'The Pasture."

I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha’n’t be gone long.—You come too.

OK, now, I really am leaving. So can you.

It's OK Today

I was able to login to blogger from the Windows side of my laptop today. Weirdly weird. And I did OK leading Chorale last night. A little less weirdly weird. I took too long on one song and ended up not getting to practice one of the eight songs assigned to me.

In a conference call yesterday, someone said "cross my eyes and dot my t's" and that just begs for a comic strip.

Yes, Friday is our 34th anniversary, but it looks like we will spend the weekend painting Alison's new room. We will probably still do our Saturday morning brunch and then head down to her new place. I am thinking get away for a night the following weekend.

OK, a dude is already having a discussion with me about handing reporting using the new project management tool, so I have lost some time. I think I had more to say, but I have shifted into work mode, so let's all get going for today. Hopefully we can spend more time together tomorrow.

Today's Post Today

Did you see that I finally posted yesterday's blog entry? For some reason, I can no longer login to blogger from Internet Explorer in Windows. Today, I am booted into the Mac side and using Firefox to create this entry.

Now that I have figured this out, though, I am out of time for lollying and gagging with you. So, let's go ahead and get today's Clarity of Vision posted. As you might guess, the major freeway coming into town from the west side was closed this morning when a semi carrying thousands of pounds of lettuce overturned. That is all it takes for my mind to go down punny paths.
I am directing the first half of Chorale practice tonight. There are a couple of newer songs that I brought home, thinking I might look over them before practice. No, I have not even opened them, so I guess we will all read through them tonight.

Sorry, but our time together is already coming to a close. Since I know how to use the MAC to bypass the regular Windows internet filters, I should be ready earlier tomorrow, but we will see. Thanks for reading.

My Missing Post

The blog entry for Monday is being created on Tuesday because my Windows browser will not let me login to blogger anymore. So today, I am logged in to the Mac side, which does allow it.

Things I would have covered yesterday include swimming with the granddaughters on Friday, working on Alison's classroom on Saturday, a "fried" turkey that was not fried on Sunday, and whatever else I was thinking about yesterday.

I also would have included this Clarity of Vision cartoon that I published at work yesterday.
No time now, though, for yesterday is gone.