It's been a few weeks since I updated, but it's been a very busy few weeks. There's been a lot of back and forth, and a lot of juggling, but I think we managed to see everyone we've wanted to see, and who wanted to see us, or almost anyway. All the family visiting was great, and I even got all my shopping done in time. I have lots of stories to tell, but I don't have time right now to tell them all, because the holidays aren't quite over yet. It's New Year's Eve, and we're going to have dinner soon and then head over to a friend's house to party. Should be great.

There's a winter storm coming in tomorrow that's supposed to start with freezing rain and finish with lots of snow, so barring the power going out, I should have plenty of time to tell all those stories tomorrow afternoon. That post is gonna be a long one, or else I'll break it up into a few smaller ones. We'll see; it'll depend on what mood I'm in. Happy New Year, and I hope everyone's holiday time, regardless of what was celebrated and how it was spent, was joyous and happy.

It's amazing what a difference one night makes. J and I went out tonight at 6pm to Northwest Plaza (the mall practically across the street). We had dinner at the Pasta House, which was nice, and then got to shopping. We'd whipped up a quick list for our families, of what we knew (he called home to find out for them) everyone wanted, and brought that with us. We now have almost all our shopping done (we bought things for 10 people) and were home by 9:15. Yea! I'd say we have about 3/4 of our shopping done.

Now, I'm taking a short breather before baking an apple crisp for tomorrow's department party at work (actually, a double batch so I can bring the other half to our karate party Wed. night -- I need to ask my mom if I can keep half of it in the fridge so I can bake it after work Wednesday).

It's amazing how much stuff you don't get done when you come down with something. I don't know what it is, but I've gotten very few things done this weekend that I wanted to. Yesterday, I was planning on getting my oil changed, going Christmas shopping, and a few other things. I did get my oil changed today, but I still haven't done any shopping. I woke up yesterday just wrung out. I didn't feel like moving. I almost had a headache (one that just sort of hovers, but never actually really hurts), and my joints all ached slightly, but there wasn't any fever, no coughing, no runny or stuffy nose... Nyquil may have an extensive list of things it helps, but it couldn't help me. I felt fine, except I was just exhausted. I spent all but about 3 or 4 hours out of bed.

This morning I felt better in that respect, but I had some diarrhea, which sucked. That meant I shouldn't have had the pizza last night, and I shouldn't eat much of anything today. But I did get my oil changed (and my tires rotated while I was at it), and I did finally eat some toast with preserves. I missed out on some fun this afternoon though. The grade school my mom works at was having an ornament exchange at a restaurant at the Galleria, and for $20 and an ornament (everyone who attended had to bring one so it was an even exchange), there was gonna be appetizers and a fajita bar (steak, chicken, and... pork?), plus drinks. I mean, damn. But... it woulda been $20 for food I couldn't eat. So I just stayed home while my stomach hurt periodically.

I guess things coulda been worse. I could've gotten this just in time for Christmas, which would've really sucked. I hope J doesn't get it though, because he's got a final coming up this week (his only final) and I don't want it to grab him for Christmas either. We'll see...

Looks like I'm not crossing a lot of those things off my to-do list. I mean, I knew some of them couldn't be accomplished by now (like changing my car's oil) but I did think I'd have more of them done by now. Hopefully a few of them will get done this weekend (cross-stitch project, oil change, offline wishlist, etc.). Still... some of those things are definitely coming down to the wire. At least not all of them are all that important.

Did you ever have one of those days where you just should've stayed in bed? I mean, one of those where you have a hard time getting up in the morning, and when you finally drag your butt out of bed and get going, before the day has a chance to really start, Fate bitch slaps you across the face and says, "You shoulda stayed in bed!"

I got up late, but managed to leave the apartment on time, which I thought was great. I got in the car and started it, and turned on the rear defrost because it was cold & clear last night, so there was frost on the windshield & windows. I got out of the car, silently reminding myself not to lock the door (I'd never done so before in the morning, but it's an automatic habit to get out of the car & lock the door). I shut the door, and went about scraping my windows, saving the back for last since the defrost would get most of it. I went to get back in my car.... and the damn thing wouldn't open. It was locked! Evidently some part of my coat caught on it and pushed it down, because I know I didn't do it with my own hands.

I live close to a middle school, so I went up there and asked for their phone. I also found out, from the cop who works up there, that they're no longer allowed to jimmy open locks for people because some dumbass sued for damages after asking an officer to unlock his car, so they took their slim jims away. (I'd love to slap the guy who did that one... sheesh!) Anyway, so he said a tow company would be faster than a locksmith, "unless you have AAA or something." Bingo! So we found the AAA number and I called them. After having the sound on my end cut out and the woman calling me back (all at once it sounded like the phone was dead or on hold, but it turns out she could hear me and couldn't figure out why I wasn't answering any more of her questions), I went back to my car to wait for the AAA truck. After about 20-30min he finally got there and got my passenger side lock open in< 5 minutes. Yea! Of course, all this made me an hour late! *sigh* I guess it coulda been worse (coulda been almost out of gas, etc.) but it still sucks, 'cause I have an hour of work to make up now.

Oh, the officer said if I'd had Onstar (optional package on new GM cars, maybe others) they can unlock your car remotely for you. Just call them up and they can do it via their satellite. I wonder how much this service costs, for when I buy a new car eventually....

Okay, there are a few things I either want or need to get done, so I think I'll list them somewhere as a reminder to myself so I don't forget anything. I'm not going to order them by priority; that'll be on the fly. They're not things necessarily to do "today"; some are for today and some are longer term.

• Make Christmas list(s), both online (list is here) and offline.
• For those who haven't already told me, find out ideas for Christmas gifts for others. (almost completely done with this)
• Buy Christmas gifts. (almost done)
• Pay property tax (due by Dec 31)
• Find and pay phone bill
• Finish cross-stitch project in the next week.
• Practice palgwe (sp?) kata the right way (correct the mistake evidently no one noticed).(will have to do this during pre-class warmups)
• Finish current work project.
• Find out how to do cookies in php (if possible).
• Finish "christmas" stylesheet for alternate, tableless page layout for this site.
• If cookies can be done in php, set up alternate layout with the ability to choose a preferred stylesheet layout, using cookies to make preference persistent (and so people using IE can actually use them, since IE doesn't yet offer that choice).
• Figure out what parts of the alternate layout will be common enough to become separate, included files, and revise it accordingly.
• After alternate layout is stable, write a quick poll to ask readers (all 3 or 4 of them, ) whether the current or new layout is preferred.
• Get my oil changed this weekend.
• Finish my wish list maintenance stuff.

Well... I'm sure I'll end up adding to this list, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, and the new layout thing? Don't worry, the default stylesheet will still use the same color scheme as the current layout does, even in the same order. It doesn't use gifs though for the headings, and doesn't use an extensive table layout to lay the page out, which should mean quicker rendering. [Edit: If you really, really are curious about it, you can find it here but keep in mind it's still a work in progress, so it's "subject to change without notice" and all that.]

Wow, it's been a while since I updated, even though I was so excited when MT started working again. I've just been so... complacent lately, in regards to doing anything that could even be remotely construed as productive. Whatever it is, I just don't feel like it. Not that I'm depressed or not having any fun or enjoyment in life. I mean, J and I spent a very nice relaxing weekend together, playing Diablo II (him on battle.net and me just single player), being together, watching movies, etc. I just haven't wanted to do anything constructive. Sure, bills are getting paid on time. I finally scooped the cats' litterboxes this weekend. I got my hair cut too when I went w/ J for him to do it. (There's a place called SuperCuts next door to a Subway really close to where we live, so usually he goes for a hair cut and then we grab Subway for dinner. I'd been meaning to get mine cut for 3-4 months, but just hadn't, so I said "what the hell?" and had them do it. A little shorter than I really wanted, but it turned out well.)

I've just been in a sort of funk lately. But I think it's lifting (hey, I'm posting here, right? ). I've had a project I've been slowly plodding through at work, that I think I'll actually do some real work on (most of it's been doing the ground work: writing database queries, setting up variables, etc.). I need to come up with some lists for Christmas, so when I'm next asked "what do you want?" I can actually answer. I've gotten some work done on a cross-stitching project that I keep putting off to the side, and it's almost finished finally. So... I have stuff I need to do, and I think I'm finally starting to feel the urge to actually do it. Which is a good thing, 'cause I don't like feeling like I'm just wandering through a lot of my time.

Got sent these jokes thru AIM from a friend of mine. They're a great chuckle.

1. What do you get when the Pillsbury Doughboy bends over?
   Doughnuts.
2. Mothers have Mother's Day, and fathers have Father's Day. What do single guys have?
   Palm Sunday.
3. How can you tell the blind guy in a nudist colony?
   It's not hard...
4. Three ladies are sitting on a park bench eating ice cream. One is sucking it, another is biting it, and the last is licking it. Which one is married?
   The one with the ring on her finger.
5. Why are men and the weather alike?
   You never know what you're going to get, how long it will last, or how many inches.

Well, it's been a very busy Thanksgiving week. We did lots, and had a lot of fun, but I'm so tired right now (and either coming down with a cold, or just not bouncing back well from an allergy attack two days ago) I'm not going into it all now. Suffice it to say a good time was had by all, and that I'm going to try and spend as little time in cars as possible for a while.