The Default State Is Broken

I really am trying to get better at this, though. Managed to get sick on Thursday night, and felt even worse on Friday, so I took the day off work. This ended up being a great idea, since I slept most of Friday away, only getting up to take Cheryl to her walk-to-the-coast event, then coming right back home and going back to sleep. This morning I ran to Walgreens to grab some Hall's coughdrops and Canada Dry ginger ale (so much for my "no HFCS" plan) because my throat was KILLING me and my stomach was upset enough that I was having trouble even thinking about food. I'm feeling a little better now, so I'm having ramen soup and water for dinner, in the hopes that my sore throat will die down overnight and I'll be able to at least swallow tomorrow. I think I've got the opportunity to make real headway on my project at work, and while I hate that I've lost a day's productivity, I think I can make it up and make everyone happy with me despite being ou...

Yeah, I'm not retyping that. Love Life: Why do I even have this on here? Current Video Game:ME1 done. Next up, ME2. Currently Watching: Rissoli and Isles. It really annoys me that a show about two strong, intelligent, driven career women can't pass the Bechdel Test. Current Music: Nothing. Current Book: Actually, nothing. I'm really between books at this point.

Today was much, much better; incredibly productive at work, and relaxing at home, at least after I got the STUPID STUPID IRS paperwork completed. I have no idea why they took two and a half months to let me know that I need to submit a form, but whatever. Anyway, some perspective helps to make things better, or at least more surmountable. Didn't get any cleaning done, but that's fine; I've got a plan for Saturday for a full-house clean. Love Life: The less said the better. Current Video Game: still Mass Effect. At the endgame, ready to finish up and then move onto ME2. Currently Watching: WIthout a Clue, starring Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine. Current Music: Nothing. Current Book: Actually, nothing. I'm really between books at this point.

Came home from work today completely overwhelmed with the amount of project work looming at me. I don't even want to talk about how over my head I am at this point. Ran to Home Despot for a couple of small things, then came home and fell asleep for five hours. I'm up now, but thinking about going back to sleep. Hopefully I can do that and not completely screw up my sleep pattern. Still waiting on the weather to break so I can get my fan installed. Looking at attic fans, and the prices I've been seeing are still about what I remember -- for a solar-powered fan the right size to install in the space I have, it's about $250. Which I don't really have. Oh, speaking of money, I got a packet of papers from the IRS telling me that I have to resubmit the paperwork to get my tax credit check. So I'm doing that Saturday at the latest, but it would've been nice if they had communicated that sometime before this week. Well, at least it's not a situation wher...

...I just need to find a good 3rd-party blogger.com interface, and maybe an iPhone app so I can blog when I'm thinking of it. July's big "fix the outside of my house" drive didn't really happen, but I did manage to get some stuff done by the simple expedient of encouraging my ex-wife to do whatever she wanted to it. So the front yard is starting to be manageable, and I've closed off the driveway in preparation for resurfacing it, as well as getting ready to open the "tomato bed" area. Still haven't done anything about the back yard, but I have a feeling that without a capital infusion it's going to remain as it is now until I have some serious time off. I bought a ceiling fan, but it's still "in process" as far as installation goes. It turns out the ceiling mount has to be redone so the fan doesn't fall off, which is involving several trips into the attic... which it turns out is a BAD place to be during the hottest days...

So, June was the month of in-the-house projects, what with all the painting and the rearranging and the half-finished shower (which, according to all the experts I've consulted, needs a real plumber to finish). I made an executive decision that July would be the external projects month, so I can get used to living in my new space without going crazy about the mess. Saturday was the first big yard project, tackled by my tenants, and it went pretty well so far: the japanese maple in the front yard has been trimmed back so it looks less like it has mange; the rhododendron bushes have been trimmed back on the front and side of the house so they're no longer taking over the space, most of the bushes along the fenceline in fron have been trimmed back to reasonable levels, and the electric hedge trimmers I obtained meant this all got done in about an hour and a half (including mowing the yard and spreading some anti-moss stuff to clear off the sidewalk and side-of-the-house pathway....

So, I saw a tweet from Nate Silver of 538.com about who would win the World Cup if it were about food... and thus this stupid project was born. Here are my choices as to who would advance: Grp A: #MEX Grp A: #FRA Grp B: #GRE Grp B: #ARG Grp C: #ALG Grp C: #USA Grp D: #GHA Grp D: #SER Grp E: #JAP Grp E: #CAM Grp F: #ITA Grp F: #PAR Grp G: #BRA Grp G: #CIV Grp H: #CHI Grp H: #SPA Then, seeding the round of 16: #FRA 1 #JAP 2 #MEX 3 #PAR 4 #GRE 5 #ALG 6 #GHA 7 #ITA 8 #BRA 9 #CHI 10 #SPA 11 #ARG 12 #CAM 13 #SER 14 #CIV 15 #USA 16 Round of 16 results: #FRA vs #USA = #FRA #JAP vs #CIV = #JAP #MEX vs #SER = #MEX #PAR vs #CAM = #CAM #GRE vs #ARG = #ARG #ALG vs #SPA = #ALG #GHA vs #CHI = #CHI #ITA vs #BRA = #ITA Quarterfinal Results: #FRA vs #ITA = #FRA #JAP vs #CHI = #JAP #MEX vs #ALG = #MEX #CAM vs #ARG #CAM Onto the Semifinals: #FRA vs #CAM = #FRA #JAP vs #MEX = #JAP The fight for third: #CAM vs #MEX = #CAM And, for the World Cup of Food: #FRA vs #JAP = #JAP Your choices may be different...