Catching up

(*Warning* The contents of this email are being written after only about two hours sleep)

It's been nearly a month since the last blog post, and it was an AnimeExpo con post at that. I know I've been rather neglectful of my blogging...uh...duties? I clearly haven't been writing - we're getting back on that horse today - and I've barely been reading, so to my few-but-faithful fans out there I do apologize! What's been keeping me away from you all???

- Post-convention stress syndrome. After I got back from the convention I was simply tired and poor. I'm glad I went to the convention for fun since fun was definitely had! Just the same, what I thought would be less stressful trip since I didn't have to work the con or worry about setting alarms or wake up calls or anything like that turned out to be even more stressful than a con I volunteer at. Turns out that trying to coordinate room arrangements for a small group and meal schedules/dietary needs for a somewhat larger group isn't really all that cool. Oh well. I still may organize the lodging and transportation for a group next year but I don't know that I'll be participating in the group activities.

Prior to leaving I had some brake work done so that we'd have a safe trip. I also noticed that the engine wasn't turning over as quickly and the battery was about due to be replaced. The battery still had some life left, but they recommended I replace the springs and some other hardware on the brake system in addition to the needed parts. I passed.

It's funny what a 720 mile round trip through Death Valley during the hottest week of the year will do to a car. And my bank account. There were no problems during the trip, but by the time we got back the battery was shot (we accidently left the dome light on for a few hours when the car wasn't running - brilliant!) and the springs had warped rendering the rear brakes basically useless. Anywho, all worked well enough to get us home and get me to the car place to take care of the rest of the brake hardware. Then I still had to get back to the office and catch up on the backlog of...

- Work. July is my second least-favorite work month of the year due to employee appraisals being due and the annual budgeting process. On top of those normal duties, we also had to interview for three expansion positions and work towards completing a major volume expansion for my department. That last project will be a labor of love for the next two calendar months, and depending on how everything goes October could be a relative nightmare.

Seriously. Any thoughts, prayers, juju, and positive vibes you can send my way during that time will really be appreciated. There's a pretty significant amount at stake for myself, my boss, my VP, and the credit union with this expansion project. So with the increased stress I need a stress-releiver which has been taking the form of ...

- Games. The Ragnarok Online anniversary event was going on during June/July so much leveling was going on. I'm not the power-leveler like some of my friends are but I still did as much as my schedule, my fatigue, and my sanity would allow for. Who knows...one day I might even finish a character! I've also been developing/implimenting a guild event for our game that will run the course of ten weeks. Multiple updates are necessary each week so that's definitely taking up some time. Nothing outrageous, but time nonetheless. It hasn't been as successful as I'd hoped but I've still got a few participants and if nothing else folks from other guilds have taken notice and asked to join our guild or have me do a similar event for them. I thought I might have the time to do so since my evenings/weekends were mostly free until I stumbled upon...

- Girlfriend 2007. Or rather she stumbled upon me. On July 1st I received an email from an old acquaintance from the high school youth group at church. We didn't really talk all that much back then but I still remembered who she was. Turns out she had a crush on me since that time, but when she saw me with my now-ex-wife she reasonably figured that I wasn't exactly available any more. 'Course now that's different and as "circumstance" would have it our paths crossed yet again. We talked for a while, went out a few times, and we've hit it off smashingly well so far. It's rather hard to believe that it's basically been a month already since that first contact but it's been all kinds of fun! Her name is Abby, she's a graphics designer, loves to read, enjoys action/sci-fi movies, and has a PS2. She even challenged me to a game of Tetris the first time I was over there! And she really enjoyed the new Die Hard movie. I give her two thumbs up. :-D

So that's been life for the past month or so. I don't know if I'll be posting as much as I used to over the next few months but I'll do my best to throw some thoughts up here as they come up. I still enjoy blogging and sharing my random idiocracies!

Until next time...