av8rmike

So, what's been going on the past month? Lots of the same uninteresting stuff, like trying to organize stuff around the house and get things unpacked. The PHP/MySQL project for work for which I've been up to my eyeballs finally seems to be clearing, so I may actually have time to start doing things like updating and Support again. It's been really interesting, and I've learned a lot about server-side programming, but probably not enough to help out significantly with DW/LJ because I still find Perl pretty impenetrable, and I didn't have to consider a lot of scalability problems for the work site.

For Thanksgiving Jamie and I flew back to see her family in Wisconsin. I found it amusing that the question nearly everyone asked was, "How was the security?" or "Did you get [frisked]?". What people who have been following the stories only loosely may not have understood is that not everyone is required to get scanned. At BWI and Milwaukee, for instance, I only went through the same metal detectors I always go through. The millimeter-wave scanners were there, and some people were going through them, but I couldn't see a pattern to it, nor was I asked to step through. So, you do still have a choice, and it's not exhibitionism vs. groping vs. arrest.

Anyway. Off to a full week of rehearsals for 3 separate concerts!

My regular pair of glasses broke on Saturday afternoon... maybe it was one too many unscheduled trips to the floor, but one of the earpieces broke off inside the springy part. So, it can't be fixed; I have to get new frames. Well, maybe I could super-glue them back together, but they still won't be angled right. I've been needing an excuse to wear my contacts more anyway.

It makes me wonder what I'd do if I didn't have the contacts to wear, stumble around blindly until I could get the first appointment with a new optometrist? I had to schedule an exam because I don't have a current prescription. Does everyone carry theirs around with them?

Finally, wearing contacts all day and staring into a computer screen is never a good combination. However, I've tried, but I just CAN'T do eye drops. The last few times I tried, I blinked so hard my contacts came out. Annoying, to say the least.

...but I woke up early yesterday morning and my stomach had other plans. There was no way I was making it to fuzzy_gizmo's party, as I could barely pull myself off the couch.

Still, that was a hell of a Super Bowl, wasn't it? Apparently, I missed all of the good commercials, either between nodding off or running to the bathroom. I'm sure you all wanted to know about that.

Happy Groundhog Day to those of you who celebrate. Looks like it's six more weeks of winter.

Huh. I tried posting by text earlier, but it didn't go through?

Doesn't really matter, I can always set the date back so this post show up on the right day. ;) And all I had to say was something about drinking a wine called "Limerick" that I'd never heard of before.

I got called to jury duty yesterday and ended up actually having to serve in a trial. It only lasted until about 6:00 PM, though.

It's a weird feeling, knowing you (and 11 other people) just sent a man to prison, when he probably thought he had a chance to get off.

It's not that I don't have time to update any more, it's just that I feel like I have nothing interesting to talk about any more.

Ask me something instead?

In case anyone was concerned, I am still alive... just haven't had much to say lately. Things are going pretty well; I still have rehearsals twice a week, one of which is not challenging, while the other takes almost all my concentration.

That warm, wooly feeling I had last night that I'm attributing to civic pride, but may have been my leftovers coming back to haunt me, was quickly supplanted with disgust at the results of the Maryland elections. A Republican voting in Baltimore City? Pretty much a fart in the wind. Let's just hope that Governor O'Malley isn't as ineffective as he was as mayor.

As it is twice every year, we're in that period where it's not cold enough outside to leave the heat on all the time, but too warm inside not to turn on the air conditioning.

Yet another mostly uninteresting weekend. Lúthien called Friday night, noting that she hadn't heard from me in a while. Yeah, maybe it's because I've gotten tired of calling and getting interrupted (which happened then too), asking her out and getting nothing but excuses, etc. The part about watching the Olympics opening ceremony I already covered.

Saturday I went to a music store for some sheet music and ended up coming out with Mendelssohn's violin concerto and the first 5 Hungarian Dances by Brahms. Surprisingly, I can actually play the Mendelssohn, but the Brahms? Forget it. I went to Columbia (MD) Mall for the rest of the day, and bought a big Calphalon saute pan and some steel canisters at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Today I discovered in one of my cabinets some potatoes that had been rotting away for the better part of the week. Also, what I sincerely hope are not mouse droppings. I cleaned the stuff up, wiped down all the flat surfaces and coated everything with Lysol. Now I'm afraid to put my bakeware & stuff back in there.

About the Chinese food: I went to Dad's place for dinner, as usual, but they were going out to the usual Chinese place. I thought my fortune was so appropriate, I kept it to show to all my loyal readers =):

"Everyone agrees you are the best."