Author: cdwan

I live.

Home safely after an emotionally draining weekend. As predicted, made our 6am flight on Saturday. Drove to Z & M’s house (in Brighton) to meet their 4 month old, D … as well as to say intelligent things like “my you’ve grown,” to their 2 year old, T. Drove back to Plymouth for C’s wedding to M. Used the time between the wedding and the reception to hang out with L and J, L and S, and A and M. All that, plus L’s mom, and L and J’s new four month old, A.

Went back to the reception, where songs were sung, dances danced, and the last of the cigars smoked. Good times were had. Then we drove back to Z and M’s house and crashed.

Blueberry pancakes with Z and M (from the farmers market!), then south to Ann Arbor for a quick expresso, and to close out a lingering debt, then off to Kalamazoo for a monster lunch with s grandparentsm as well as seemingly every single cousin, aunt, and uncle in the area. Seriously, there were like 17 people at the house, apparently catalyzed by the fact that we were coming to town and people wanted to get together. It was sweet. Of course, following the rule that there had to be a baby wherever we went, cousin E (married to J), brought little H.

Busted out of there around 2:30 to drive back to Plymouth and see J and C, their two year old E (wow! He’s talking so much!), and their 4 WEEK old, N. N was sorta inert. He apparently still sleeps a lot, between eating and pooping. J and C had already put chicken on the grill, so we were briefly not vegetarians for the evening. My belly feels kinda funny right now.

Back to the airport for our 9pm flight, and now off to bed. As mentioned previously, I will be in boston trying not to punch my co-workers in their respective faces by early tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

Our all day meeting today was massively productive, despite each of us having to walk out and cool down at least once. There were also several brief profanity storms, and a couple of abortive attempts at fistfights. In other words, we all said what was on our minds. All technical discussions should be backed up with the threat of physical violence. It makes coffee so much less necessary.

On both the way in, and now on the way back out, the conductor has failed to punch my ticket. Two free train rides!

The signs indicate that I have not lost favor with the Gods. I’m on the train that will get me home by 6. This means that I can still mow the lawn, wash the dishes, and run a load of laundry before leaving for the weekend.

I suppose that this is the opposite side of having a serious “rock star” weekend a week ago.

–UPDATE–

Thanks in large part to Lindemans “Cawarra” Shiraz (65%) Cabernet (35%) from South Eastern Australia, I am no longer tense. I am merry.

I do not anticipate this merriment surviving the alarm at 4am.

Today went approximately as well as expected. I am now listening to the following, in an attempt to beat my brain into submission:

* Stacy’s Mom (Fountains of Wayne)
* My Humps (Black Eyed Peas)
* Pretty Fly for a White Guy (Offspring)
* My Band (D12)
* I Hope You Die (Bloodhound Gang)

I ran into a preacher with a microphone at Downtown Crossing on my way back to South Station. He was telling people things like “Jesus started the Catholic church, he didn’t start the Baptist church. Says so right in the bible.” I didn’t have the energy to do anything more than glare at him for a few seconds. How pathetic is that? On a good day, I would have worn his viscera as a crown.

The music is working. Good night, all.

Tomorrow, I will wake up at 6am, to leave my house by 6:40, so I can catch a train at 7:20. That train will get me to Back Bay sometime around 8:20. I will then take the Orange line to North Station to await a train that leaves at 9:10, which will get me to Woburn around 9:30. Someone from my company will then pick me up so we can start our mighty “all hands” software meeting at 10am or so. After an all day meeting of arguing the benefits of the software we have now vs the software that people actually want to use, I will catch a ride with one of the guys back to a T connection, hopefully grabbing a train not later than the 6:50, which will bring me back to Attleboro by 8, to get home around 8:30.

Friday, I shall do it again.

Saturday, We will rise at 4, to get to the airport at 5, for a 6am flight to Michigan to attend a 2pm wedding. Sunday, we drive to Kalamazoo, visit the grandparents, and then back to Detroit by way of a friend’s house, to catch a 9pm flight home.

Monday and Tuesday, you guessed it: Boston again on that same insane schedule.

I guess I can’t bitch too much. One of our guys is coming from China.

So, pictures from the weekend are up.

We went to the demolition derby with capital_l and technolope, as well as Vinny and nearly too many others to count. A good time was had by all, and I was once again overcome by the power and beauty of a spectacle where hundreds of men (and a woman!) come together to smash up perfectly good cars. There were also fireworks and patriotic music.

Before that, we had a little electrical adventure, when redmed attempted to dig a hole to place a plant in one of our flower beds and noticed that the “root” she had just stomped through was in fact 2 connector, 12 gauge wire. In related news, the garage door didn’t work anymore. The previous owner (not that this is any sort of surprise anymore) had done a half assed job, and buried the cable (a) sans conduit (b) about 4″ underground (c) in the GDMF flower bed. Seriously, why not place it someplace where you’re *unlikely* to dig casually. Anyway, I was sort of geeked by the fact that this sort of thing doesn’t even slow me down anymore. I’ve got 12 gauge wire, nuts, and electrical tape. I’ve even got a cheat sheet indicating which breaker serves that wire. I got it spliced and rocking again just in time for our guests to show up and look at me funny.

Today’s adventure involved re-hanging the front gutters in the hope that they’ll catch water a little better. They were attached to the house such that there was a good inch or so of space between them and the flange that supposedly directs water into the gutter, off the roof. Now, there is appropriate overlap. I spent a fair amount of time sitting on the roof, which was fairly calm.

I’ve finally been convinced that “nobody should pay interest on a short term loan that they plan to pay off in less than six months.” Apparently, “that’s what those credit card offers are for.” And “with discipline, it’s free money.” Further, it is not scummy in any way to use these offers, since “the company chooses to play the game in a way that lets me win.” Every single smart and informed person, without exception, with whom I’ve discussed this, agrees.

Okay, fine. I’m going to grab a card, write myself a check from that card for nearly the credit limit, slam the cash in a certificate of deposit or something like it, and then pay off the card at the end of the interest free term, keeping the interest. It’ll be fun. Free money, woo hoo.

Here’s my question: What credit card company should I use? Is there one that sucks less than the others?

–UPDATE– Consumer Reports reviews credit cards! Who knew? This is awesome.

My librarything is basically complete. I’ve put in all the books that I could find in the house. If there’s another crate or something downstairs, I’ll just have to live with that.

Since I was scratching the obsessive compulsive itch, I also collapsed the ‘ole CD collection into six binders instead of 300-some plastic cases. This is saving approximately 8 linear feet of bookshelves and a hundred pounds or so of plastic. I have thereby achieved more than half of my goal to “get rid of my own body weight in unneeded possessions.”

Demolition derby last night was fun. I think that I had 12 (or so) friends make the drive to come out and see cars smashed. What a spectacle. Stayed up late talking with capital_l and technolope about whatever was on our minds.

What a great weekend.

Congratulations day, you get an A-plus! Pictures.

(more…)

On the train, back from Boston. More accurately, the loser cruiser. This is the 11:55 train out of South Station. They barely even check tickets on this ride, they’re just happy you’re sedate.

For my part, I am sedate. Went to Jake Ivory’s with capital_l and technolope and assorted of their friends. It was a really good time. We wound up writing notes to each other on the request slips, since it was totally clear that the piano players were never going to play anything even remotely close to our suggestions (which included Nine Inch Nails and Lords of Acid). Still, I was dragged onstage in homage to my “twist” ability, and I think that I even got one admiring glance. Not bad for an old, married dude.

Otherwise, today was acceptable. Wrestled with CentOS and various power issues that nobody but me cares about. W00t.

Oh yeah, and also: My internet via cell-phone connection SUCKS. 14.4Kb/sec is apparently not enough to download new email *and* update livejournal during an hour long train ride home.

Damn you, capital_l. This is only half done, and it’s all your fault.

I have three full-on bookshelves still to attack, including fiction, cooking, and “large format.”