morrowlife

Here’s a cave in a rock at the beach at Big Sur. That place was just full of interesting things. Don’t worry, Loyal Readers, I still have several pictures left!

No train ride today, so I’m going to keep this short. I had a little eye trouble when the alarm clock went off – just couldn’t see getting up that early today. So I slept in for about 45 minutes and drove the sports car instead. The traffic was heavy enough that I want to ride the train again tomorrow. But I did enjoy driving the car again today, after a few weeks of only taking it around town here in Lardville.

The Loyal Readers had a combination book club/pool party today. Interesting combination, that. Their report is that a good time was had by all. The pool is still not quite warm enough for comfortable swimming yet, but that doesn’t stop hardy young people. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s every day this week, so the water warming trend continues.

My boss is out of the office for the rest of the week, so I’m in charge here! Things are really going to change now. Or not.

And I’m tired of writing for this evening, so I’ll see you tomorrow.

Here’s an inviting pathway. Doesn’t it just make you want to walk down that road and find out what’s down there? No? Well, it did for me. Although I didn’t actually walk down that road when I had the chance. So never mind.

Pretty good weekend. The big news, of course, is that the pond has water in it! Also a liner, pump, filter, assorted pipes, and a few fish. Although I seriously question whether any of those fellas are still there. We got about 12 or 14 of the Wal-Mart ten-for-a-dollar goldfish (none of which were actually gold – those feeders are getting worse every year) and tossed them in on Saturday evening. As of yesterday morning, I could only find one, and I couldn’t find any yesterday evening. I’ll have another look tonight when I get home.

Anyway, we went to the high-priced pond store way out in the country and bought some really good equipment. I think the new pond is slightly smaller than my old one, and my new pump and filter have WAY more capacity. That pond is gonna be really clean. Which is how I like it. We still need to add rocks around the edge, some gravel on the bottom, and the real fish in a week or two, and then it will be just . . . perfect. Ahhh.

The rest of the weekend was normal. I got a lot of rest yesterday, but at the expense of not doing a couple of things I really ought to have done. Alas, but the world continues to turn and I’m feeling much more rested.

Spent a lot of time yesterday downloading a bunch of new podcasts, with the emphasis on video stuff for the train. I found a few classical-music podcasts and a couple of new tech ones. I’ll reserve comments until after I’ve watched a few of them. So far, so good, though.

Work managed to survive without me on Thursday and Friday. We have our plates full this week, as usual, and I’m still under a lot of pressure to get a bunch of people interviewed and a few people hired (link warning: amusing video with sound). Busy, busy, busy.

I want to get to some of those videocasts now, so so long for now. See you tomorrow.

Here’s a truly hardy surfer. That water was freezing cold. He and everyone else like him were covered from head to toe in neoprene.

I’m back from the south! Things here were pretty much the way I left them. Except that the hole for the pond is essentially complete. And Loyal Reader Number Five is gone, leaving Loyal Reader Number Twelve behind. So she’ll hopefully be returning soon.

We’re ready to finish the pond, probably tomorrow. We just need to buy a bunch of pond liner, a pump/filter combination, and some fish. The fish will probably be delayed by about a week, giving the pond a little bit of time to settle in. I’m excited! Loyal Reader Number Four has done a TON of work to dig it for me. Thanks awfully, LRN4!

She also made arrangements for us to get a large pile of rocks from somebody down the street and around the corner. They had ordered four yards of large-ish river rocks and had a bunch left over. We borrowed our neighbor’s wheelbarrow (he wasn’t home, but he had previously offered to let us use it) and our friends’ utility trailer (they weren’t home, but they had previously offered to let us use it) and went over and picked up a large pile of free rocks. All in all, a pretty good deal. As long as we don’t get arrested for having a stolen wheelbarrow and trailer. We still have both of them – we plan to buy some dirt and/or smaller rocks tomorrow too.

Both boys are out right now. Loyal Reader Number Two went camping with the scouts. It’s a quick trip – they’re planning to be home before noon. Loyal Reader Number One is out at a stake YM/YW movie-watching activity. He’ll be back later tonight.

I’m incredibly sleepy, so I’m out of here for tonight. Have a great weekend.

Here’s Loyal Reader Number One on the beach. Looks like he’s having a great time down there.

Happy birthday, Loyal Reader Number Four! We’ve known each other for roughly two thirds of our lives now, and they’ve definitely been the best two thirds.

A big Morrowlife welcome to Loyal Readers Numbers Five and Twelve. They arrived at Chateau Saindouxville on Tuesday night and are here for a couple of weeks. We’re glad you’re here. And I’m planning on shooting some more Gratuitous Great Art. Gotta bring those Loyal Readers back in.

No post yesterday. Couldn’t do it. Had to come down to Edwards. I got home from work, wolfed down some (delicious) dinner, did my YM/YW presentation, packed, and left for Down South. Got here about 1:30 this morning. Yikes. At least I managed to stay awake all the way. Had to switch from podcasts to music about an hour out, but I made it without napping along the way.

The upside: I got here so late they counted me as checking in today, not last night. So I’m only being charged for one night. Well, my company is only being charged for one night, that is. There are a couple of downsides, though. First, they serve a free breakfast, but I’m only “staying” one night so I only got one coupon, so there’s no free breakfast tomorrow. No real problem, though – the breakfast isn’t really very good anyway. Actually, it’s bad. Real bad. The second small thing is that they didn’t make up my room, since they think I just checked in today and therefore didn’t need maid service. No made bed, no clean towel. Horrors! Fortunately, I expect to survive even this indignity.

Today’s meeting went well. Most of it didn’t really apply to me, but I got some great insights into how they do things here and what their plans are. I have some ideas now for how to support them better.

Had sushi for dinner tonight. Not the best in the world. Far from it. However, the worst sushi is better than, um . . . never mind. I can’t think of anything worse than the worst sushi in the world. Anyway, it was passable and I don’t regret having it.

Driving home tomorrow morning. Ought to be there around noon. LRN4 has some rocks for me to move. I can hardly wait! See you then.

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Two checking out the waterfall at Big Sur. We were NOT responsible for all that graffiti, of course.

Another sunny, warm, perfect day. Had some clouds in Sunnyvale in the morning, along with a fairly chilly wind. No such problems in Lardville. Worked, ate, worked some more, and went home. I’m still trying to hire a few people – we had another phone interview today. Most of the people turn out to be somewhere between a B- and a C. Today’s guy was B-. He’s been with the company for a couple of decades but has only been developing software for a few years. And he told us he gets bored every couple of years and starts looking for something more interesting. Not our favorite characteristic, that. He sure does like to talk, though. We couldn’t get the guy to shut up, to put it frankly. Maybe he won’t be getting an invite after all.

Too many things left undone at the end of the day. I need to bear down a little. At least my renewed train ridership has eliminated the hundreds of unread emails, anyway.

We’re a few minutes north of the office now and it’s gotten cloudy again. These clouds look like they have a little rain in them too. It won’t happen, though. It’s clear in Lardville.

My boss was out sick today. I tried contacting her several times and got no response. I hope she’s okay. I found out she may want me to travel down to Southern California tomorrow for a Thursday all-day meeting, but couldn’t get her to respond. I can go if needed. Otherwise, I’ll gladly (would rather) stay home. Whatever.

I want to start reading my Ruby book again, so it’s time to quit. See you tomorrow.