Blankshield

Z-10 days

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It was a good weekend. Hot sunny weather, Jasen only really had one grumpy stint on Saturday afternoon, and we got plenty accomplished. Everything on my 'hope for' list, and some that weren't. Project for this week: make a bed platform.

And sleep. Sleep would be good. Slept in at the cabin, but that's the one highlight. Otherwise I'm getting between 4 and 6 hours of sleep a night, and that just ain't enough. Doing that once in a while is OK - evening doing it a couple times a week is fine. Every night for 3 weeks running is no so good.

More post was intended, but my brain is tired.

James

Z-14 days.

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Off to the cabin this weekend for mucho work. I'm not sure how well my list matches up with Raven's, but on my "hope to accomplish" list for this weekend is:

-adjust the front step (The cabin settled with winter - the step didn't.)
-finish painting the outside of the cabin
-finish painting the doors
-finish "half-timber"ing the front and maybe get the sides down if we have enough boards
-play Catan with Jodi et al.
-do the 1st coat of verethane on the floors

Verethane isn't last on my list becuase it's the least important - it's last because it's the thing we can't do until we're about to leave.

The other thing I'm contemplating, but haven't decided yet is wether or not to take my laptop out and try and get some writing done in the evening. We've only got the one evening and I would really enjoy spending it socializing, but there is also something appealing about going to the cabin and writing.

James

Z-16 days.

I've been not getting enough sleep again lately, grr. One would think that I could learn. Get good sleep for a few days and I would go "wow, that works" instead of "now I have enough energy to run myself down again!" But it seems that no matter how many times I repeat this cycle, I fall back into the pattern of sleep deprivation. Lab rats in food mazes are smarter than me.

Had a good weekend despite not getting out to the cabin; mostly due to Raven valiantly sacrificing her weekend on the alter of childcare so I could accomplish things. Finished the sidewalk and edged the lawn, which was starting to drive me nuts. Our neighbour put in some shrubs that are a hedge-to-be, and put the funky edging stuff in that keeps grass on the grass side and dirt on the dirt side - but only on the lawn on his side. Which means that since it went in last year, *my* side of the lawn has been merrily growing into his hedge-to-be. Making it a pain to mow as well as yet another instance of inadvertant encroachment. I have enough of that with the rocks I still need to get rid of, thanks. Fortunately it's now got the funky stuff on my side as well, which means there is now an SEP field around the hedge-to-be and I can comfortably ignore it.

Grandma is going to watch the kids for us this weekend, for the older two at least, which means that Raven and I can get out to the cabin this weekend and get some decent volume of work done, instead of it being just me going out, which will be good. A little time mostly on our own will be good; plus we'll get to hang out with Jodi & Damon.

Still no perceptable motion on various Lego projects. I should really do something about that.

James

Well, we aren't at the cabin. At around 2 in the morning last night, Kalen came up to snuggle into bed with us, because she was feeling sick, and by 3, I was up giving her meds via the Nebulizer. This morning, Raven is abed feeling sick and both kids have noses that are running like the fabled fountains of somewhere famous for its fountains.

Sigh. We're going to try and salvage the weekend by getting some stuff done around the house, but it sure makes the rush-rush-rush of last night feel like a waste of time.

James

Z-22 days
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I looked at my calender for the next little while, and realized that despite the fluctuating weather, summer is in full swing.

(last weekend: Raven at cabin with kids)
This weekend: cabin with kids
next weekend: cabin without kids for working
Long(ish) weekend: cabin with kids for Quadwar

I was also reminded that it's that time of year again when I stumbled blindly out of bed around 4:30 this morning to get a drink and realized it was getting light out.

Which means "Yikes! Time crunch!" GenCon is in two months, and GETS (train show) less than a month after that. I need to revisit the Wasp and Rafik models, as well as their travel box before Gen Con, and also sort out the stuff I need to bring for Brick Battles games that I'm running at GenCon. For the train show I need to make a section of bridge and some supports, as well as sculpt a significant area of river valley/ Kinsman field.

This in addition to finishing the sidewalk, staining the deck, shoring the front sidewalk, dealing with the lawn... and so forth.

Some people have free time. Me, I have a spending deficit. Maybe I should go into government...

James

Well I'm booked for Eye Zappage. They fly me down on the 8th of July, zap me on the 9th, and fly me back on the 10th. So I won't have new eyes for Quad (probably all for the best, really - new eyes, copious dust + hours from the 24 hour on-call emergency eye guy), but I will have them for Gen Con. Unless, of course, I'm blind with steaming chunks of coal for eyes, but they haven't made me sign anything (yet) so I could still sue, at this point. Which wouldn't help the steaming chunks of coal part, but at least I'd be rich.

Got a decent degree of work done on the weekend while Raven took the kids to the cabin. Repaired my deck (finally) and laid down about 1/3 of my sidewalk down the side of the house. These have both been sitting around waiting for a couple of years, but in my family, that's not a bad holding time for home renovation work. Just don't ask me to ever put up baseboards - there's a lousy precedent there. Two of my brothers, quite independently, didn't get around to putting up baseboards until they had to sell their house.

I still have a list as long as my arm of house-related jobs, although most of them are "we would like to do this" instead of "this must be done" tasks. The only real 'must be done' left at this point is shoring up the front walk where water has washed it out underneath - forget mice or other small animals living there; we could rent it out as a basement suite.

James

Ray's Music Exchange Closed
Blues Brothers SOL

Ray Charles died yesterday. Baby, what'd you say?


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So. Adventures in Carpentry. I went out on Monday and bought all the bits I need, including a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 G1S plywood. All day Wednesday, there was a dull sense of dread in the back of my mind about cutting that beast into it's relevent parts. I couldn't use the jigsaw, because I can't - absolutely can not - cut a straight line to save my life, especially with a jigsaw. I can do OK with a handsaw, but my shoulders cramped just thinking about it.

So I went out and bought a table saw. (insert obligatory Tim the Toolman Tayler growl)

Picked up a middle-of-the-line portable tablesaw; getting the cheapest one that had wheels. A tablesaw. with WHEELS. They didn't have those when I was a kid. I remember being awed by the behemoth in the garage with it's 2-by-4 framed table of doom. Now? They come with wheels and you can break them down for storage. You can understand why I had to buy it, yes? I did restrain myself from buying the top of the line $800 portable that looked like it should come with dancing girls and a carpenter to run it for you.

Anyway. I cut up the table last night while Raven watched the kids. Conner was particularly freaked out; I suspect it's the high pitch the saw makes when it gets going. There's a certain amount of research out there that suggests autism is triggered not by a lack of input from the world, but by an excess of same; the senses are too sensitive, and this would seem to bear that out.

Once I had the wood all cut, I set it aside and came in to watch the kids while Raven went off to swordfighting. I meant to go back to it after the kids were all asleep, but that ended up being after 11 when Raven came home; Kalen was having a particularly rough night of it, and I basically got nothing done in the two hours from when she went down to when Raven got home.

What with one thing and another (like "Oh crap, I forgot to (thing X)" and "I need a shower to get the sawdust off"), I didn't get into bed until nearly 1. Which means yesterday was a 40 hour day on 4 hours of sleep.

Then it was one of those nights. I was up with Kalen 3 or 4 times. Three, I think, but my memory is fuzzy - and Raven was up with her a whole lot more. Between the two of us I think we got about 6 hours of useful sleep, and I had the lion's share at about 4 of them. So I don't really envy her the task of taking the kids to the cabin by herself this weekend...

And now, off to sign papers that say "If you turn my eyes into steaming lumps of charcoal, I will not sue", give them lots of money and schedule my eye zappage.

James

I've had a really productive few days at work. Gone for my walk every day, (save Monday, too busy), gotten about 12 hours of billable work a day, and had time to get a chapter a day comprehended in my Server 2003 book; I should be able to book my next exam before the end of next week, and be that little bit closer to having Bill Gates own another little piece of me.

Ah, the joys of sufficient sleep. I've been pretty harsh on myself, and aiming for a regular bed time. It hasn't gotten me to bed on time, but it's gotten me to bed on average an hour closer to when I should be, which is nothing to sneer at.

And tonight on Adventures In Carpentry, I get to make a folding toddler bed for the cabin so that Raven has somewhere to put the extra kid.

James

I had a fabulous weekend. All that Raven describes and then some. (Well OK, I don't have the fabulous boyfriend part, but I think he's overrated anyway) I didn't see Troy either, but instead was able to spend Friday night relaxing in the basement with friends.

Got a bit of yardwork done on Saturday; mostly just mowing instead of anything more ambitious as there was "a bit of a stiff breeze" that day. Raven was very good about not springing our surprise evening on me all at once; she sort of let it slide into my peripheral awareness where I could look at it distrustfully and evaluate this strange new thing at my own pace. Eventually I had given it a thorough enough examination and concluded I could enjoy this particular happenstance. Thank you for a wonderful evening and the clarity of understanding to tell me about it well before we were on the way to the movie. You are awesome.

Nota bene: James does not like surprises. Some folks are all about the surprises and I can respect that, but it ain't for me. At one point in my life I caught whiff of someone planning a surprise birthday party for me and had to warn them quite firmly that if I walked into a roomful of people that shouted suprise, I would turn around and walk out. Nowadays I'm a bit more relaxed and probably wouldn't freak to quite that extent, but I still would not enjoy myself until I'd had a chance to back off and adjust. And I would personally string up the cretin(s) responsible.

James

I've decided on the eyes thing: I'm going with Zyoptix. There is less risk, and the risk is of less potentially nasty things. I've booked a Pre-Op appointment for this Friday, where they will review and doublecheck that I've got the same eyes I did a few weeks ago, go over all the procedures and make me sign gobs of paperwork, bill me about 4 grand (assuming I sign said paperwork) and book me a flight to Vancouver.

James

Warning: rambling ahead, coherency not guaranteed.

Went to see Pixie's play tonight, it was quite good. Pixie can sing. Don't let her not tell you for years like she didn't tell me. Humph. :)

It also made me maudlin as musicals are wont to do. I'm a sucker for musicals, I admit it. A large part of it is that I like music, in (nearly) all it's forms (I'll skip Chinese Opera, thanks) but a larger part is the slight sureality that is the special hallmark of musicals. I mean, come on. Who in the real world - even in the gay twenties - burst into song in the middle of a situation? But in musicals, it's normal. It's part of the world, and I like that world.

I occaisionally, especially after an evening at the theatre, regret not following the actor's path; I think I could have been good, and I enjoy it a lot the few opportunities that have come my way. However, my two immediately senior brothers took that route, and did it with flare, which was detering for a host of reasons. Also, I took the academic route, which didn't leave time for such dilly-dallying as drama - especially as it took me to McNally, which had a drama department slightly smaller (and more poorly funded) than the fourth line of their junior football team. Pity I didn't stick with the academic route; I frittered around in high school and then washed out of university. Oddly enough, the only course I really really enjoyed (and consequently attended) at U of A was Drama 161: Introduction to Improvisation or somesuch title.

It is probably my enjoyment of acting and all it's attendant pluses and minuses that lead me to LRPS, and ironically also away. I love the games when they just click. When you're right on top of things and a scene plays out exactly right and you know you could never have done it that well with a hundred rehearsals and a cast of thousands. But, - and I mean this as no offense to the gamers I have gamed with - it's like sifting for gold. Those perfect moments come few and far between - more often with closed games and seasoned gamers, but still rarely - that I stopped having the patience to keep working for the next one. That is ultimately why I probably didn't choose the actors path. I do love that perfect scene - but I don't love it enough to sacrifice the rest of my life to reach it.

James
(warned ya, didn't I?)