The Same River.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The Elz and myself went out to draft a baseball team in lovely Chicago. It’s an annual migration for myself and given the events of the last two years, an annual migration for Elz as well.

Observations about Chicago:

1. Your lodging dollar goes a lot further in the suburbs than it will in downtown Chicago.
   1. Duh
   2. But, seriously, $99/night for the full business class traveler experience. I thought about loading up books from Project Gutenberg and printing them willy-nilly because free printing was an included room perk.
2. Holding the season opener at Wrigley is a rather silly idea.
3. The lynch pin of my draft strategy went for $8 more dollars than I had given myself as the strict upper limit for a player. This led to a messy draft that I don’t have sufficient preparation for to properly judge. It could either be a long year (most likely), a mediocre year (the best we can hope for), or the best team accidentally drafted (LOL).
4. Getting out of Chicago always takes longer than anticipated even though the expected crapular traffic on the Ryan never really materialized. Instead it was the Eisenhower that screwed us out of 45 minutes of our life

We continued on to Elizabeth, Pennsylvania for a few days of family-oriented frivolity. I wish I could say it was the most incredible experience of my life, but I wasn’t expecting that anyway. Instead I met some really nice folks who took me in with bemused arms and I learned a great deal about my newest infatuation—ham radio. I will be adding this to the stack of pursuits I already juggle, but have always wanted to do so. Having someone take me by the hand and show me around the block was exactly what I needed to get me off my ass.

On the trip out things got a bit silly as we ended up two and a half hours later than expected. The anxiety level in the car was increasing with every mile until we called a truce. Then Elz did the “raise the roof” gesture and said “raise the roof” in respect to something. I, on the other hand, thought she said “praise the roof” which both of us found to be incredibly more humorous. We then spent the remainder of that dark night on the back roads of southwest Pennsylvania running through various ramifications related to substituting the current monotheist deity of choice with the simple, humble, all-protecting roof. More on that later…

Really, lots more later… My UTS is really acting up with the two straight days of poor posture and driving with my elbows propped on door handles and center consoles. Still, wanted to say that we’re home safely and had a great trip. The Picts might just muddle through another year and avoid the cellar (we’ve posted anywhere between 3rd and 7th so far this week) so I consider the trip a success.

Also, the puppies are racked out on the bed after a hard week at the kennel and if I expect to get any space of my own I’m going to have to force my way in soon before positions become established.

10:15 Elz: maybe she got herpes
10:15 Me: lol
10:16 Me: ’tis better to give than to receive.
10:16 Elz: yewwwwwwwwwwwww
10:16 Elz: I want none of that!
10:16 Elz: Mister!!!!!
10:16 Me: It’s the thought that counts.
10:16 Elz: yeah…well….you can’t take it back
10:17 Me: It’s like getting something someone bought on clearance?
10:17 Me: Herpes == the clearance rack of sex
10:17 Elz: lol

Yesterday was a banner day on the employment front…

meh.

So I spent all afternoon cleaning up after the behavior of an ostensibly professional member of the staff who, for whatever reason, decided it would be a good day to pull a psychobilly freakout on one of the more valuable members of my crew. This person gets old. Real fast. And no one at this fine institution does anything about it. Whatever it is she’s been drinking, I want some of that because if I could go around unhinged all day at work I would. So much easier. How the hell does she get away with it?

So today will prove to be exciting. In at 0700 for desk hours. More desk hours from 1200 – 1800. Likely more desk hours from 2100 – 2400. That’s 10 hours at the desk + 4 hours for actual work today. The sucktitude of this job escalates daily. The commitment I have to finishing the redesign project before seeking greener pastures is inversely related in a 1:1 ratio. The Auntship has been circulating tempting offers in my direction. It’s only a matter of time before one breeches the barrier.

On the other side, Elz is still fighting the chest cold which produces frequent and painful-sounding coughing. Sleep is difficult to come by. We do enjoy the new TV though. I never really thought much of HDTV but the difference truly is amazing. Seriously. And I hate TV.

Well, there is contract work to churn out and then actual work to be seen to. It’s a partial rant but I’m engaging in self-censorship because this URL is intimately tied to my professional existence. I’d start a blog elsewhere but I already have problems keeping this one going…

So it looks like I took a goodly amount of time off, not only from work, but from blogging. I buried myself in holiday celebrational activities like eating and visiting with relatives and playing games and programming at 3pm in nothing but a bathrobe. The highlight of all this fun?

I put a ball and chain on layaway.

That’s right, I’ve become engaged to the lovely and oh-so-talented Elz. It’s looking like a long and entertaining engagement what with all the hurdles (legal and otherwise) that must be overcome but I wanted to make my intentions known to her and the rest of the world. She’s a wonderful lady and a delicate flower (not) who shares many of my interests and accommodates many of my idiosyncrasies with aplomb.

There’s really naught else to discuss. My other happy gift is a USB-enabled turntable. I’ve been ripping vinyl for some time and am considering putting some of the more esoteric stuff up on my home server for downloady goodness. Lots of jazz lately but I am hoping to stop doing piecework shortly and just start the A-Z rip of my 13 shelves of vinyl. This project will probably take years, but what’s a good project without long-term commitments?

The ice wasn’t too horrible out here and the snow has been nice. Then again I didn’t clean off the driveway before heading off to work. Work that started at noon.

Feeling really mellow and listening to a lot of Brubeck today. It’s nice.

Last night was an interesting night on the desk. Was propositioned by some lady who looked like my mother’s peer to come to [bar's name] on Friday so that I could meet her mid-thirties-ish, single friend. All well and good—who doesn’t like to be found attractive, right? I deftly parried the request by alluding to my present girlfriend, with whom I live. Perhaps it was too deft because the request turned into some kind of hard sell. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer all the while I’m trying to help her locate some obscure article. Thank FSM the reference librarian wandered back to the desk so I could pass her off. Seriously weird moment in the life of a geekular wall flower.

Told Elz about it and she asked if she needed to mark me every morning before I head off to work. I replied that I think that could be kind of fun.

heh.