5.17.2004: The Nutshell
Been a long while since I wrote, I hope to improve that trend. No excuses, except to say that there are family issues which must take precedence over jabbering on this page.
To wrap up the issue from previous pages: the two children who came into our home have been happily reunited with their mother, as it should be. We continue to wait for a call, not from the foster worker, but from the adoption worker who keeps showing our profile to birth mothers. It's a waiting game, oh yeah, it's a waiting game... (I'm sure that's a song, isn't it?)
Over the past several months I've thought of dozens of topics that would have made interesting or amusing writing. Just small seeds of ideas, but enough to fill this page several times over if even given a paragraph each.
Wish I'd written them down.
Another reason I've not worked on this page much is that I've been working on all the others. Don't bother looking, you won't see a change -- yet. I'm planning on moving to a new server with better capabilities soon. In fact, this will probably be the last page that get's any update on the old server. All of the pages are being redesigned and you'll see a new look and new features 'all-at-once' when the changeover is complete.
And I've been spending a lot of time out of doors and away from the terminal screen. Yard work, home improvement, and an aimless wandering around. Or more precisely, walking around the neighborhood. I've been trying to build up my stamina in anticipation of a hiking trip I'm going on on Wednesday up to Michigan. Four days away from all of the usual things in my life (since most of the usual things involve electricity, and we aren't bringing any with us.) Not even a PDA.
My wife swears up and down that she won't teach summer school this year. I half believe her, but she's said the same thing the past several years and she's always ended up teaching. But this year she's determined to devote herself to home improvement, church softball, and golf. Three more weeks and we'll know for sure. Probably.
Speaking of home improvement, we pulled up all the carpets on the main floor of the house. Beautiful hardwood underneath. We've picked out area rugs (she wants a matching set for dining room, living room, and upstairs hallway,) now it's just a matter of saving up the extra $$$. Which is usually what convinces her to teach summer school.
Work is kind of insane. HQ seems to have a love/hate relationship with us developers. We're not supposed to exist, according to some official list of jobs appropriate for the organization. They love the stuff we do for them, they constantly ask for more; but they hate having us on the roster. But that's really nothing new, it's a stressor that surfaces from time to time. Nothing like being appreciated, eh?
Actually the main thing on my mind right now is grass. I really, really need to mow it soon, because we've been getting a lot of rain that's keeping it nice and healthy; but there's very little time left before I leave on my trip, and I need a good chunk of time where it ISN'T raining to do it. I really hope I don't have to wait till I get back. So do my neighbors, I'm sure.
That said, I notice the rain is currently holding off right now; perhaps I should tear myself away from this otherwise worthy and long overdue duty...
And that's the world in a nutshell - an appropriate receptacle. -- Stan Dunn
