morrowlife

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Twelve looking at her mom (or is that Grandma?) in unbelieving amazement over some slight, real or imagined. “Did I just hear what I think I heard?” Check out that arsenal of feeding tubes in the background. She’s got nothing to complain about. But that doesn’t necessarily keep her from complaining. Photo once again courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Five.

Gotta Blog Like the Wind tonight. It’s already almost 10:00 and we’re just finishing Home Evening. I get home later than I used to, so we have dinner later than we used to, so we start Home Evening later than we used to, so we finish later than we used to. It’s a vicious circle.

Loyal Reader Number One got his driver’s license today! Congratulations, LRN1. Be careful out there.

Spent a good part of the weekend working on the Gardenville Software website revamp. Instead of being nothing but a links page, it now features actual software! It needs a LOT more work (doesn’t even have a banner at the top of the page yet and isn’t hosted on the right server yet, just for two examples), but it at least gives you an idea of where we’re planning to go with it. Have a look and give me suggestions!

I ended up using TikiWiki to make the website. I’m still not sure it was the right idea, and I’m thinking of making a demo website with Drupal. If I do end up doing that, I’ll put them both someplace where my Loyal Readers can find them and ask for a vote. That sure seems like a lot of work, though.

And then again, there’s WordPress. Hmmm. What to do (other than bore my patient Loyal Readers)?

Okay, you’ve suffered enough for my art for today. See you tomorrow.

Here’s Loyal Reader Number Two trying out his new RC car the other day. Both Loyal Readers Number One and Number Two got RC cars. As a matter of fact, they’re outside enjoying them right now.

Speaking of driving, keep your fingers crossed on Monday for LRN1. He’s taking his driving test, along with a final or two at school. Busy day. Good luck, LRN1! We need you to start running errands for us.

Wonders of Blogger again today. I can’t even remember why I was too busy to blog last night, but I definitely was. It’s been busy today too. We finally took all the Christmas decorations down, which took hours. I went to Home Depot and Orchard Supply to find one of those shelves you hang from the garage ceiling. Finally found one at Orchard. They cost seventy bucks! What a ripoff. They’re worth twenty bucks as far as I’m concerned, so I didn’t buy one. Put the decorations back where they came from and called it a day.

It was quite windy yesterday and last night. Recycling day is Friday, so everybody put their stuff out. However, we all should have realized that they weren’t coming until Saturday because of the holiday on Monday. Hence, there was paper and plastic blowing all over the neighborhood by this morning.

The pool was chock full 0′ junk when we got up. The pump was running but it appeared that the vacuum wasn’t working. I went out to take a look and appearances were indeed correct. Turns out it had run over a newspaper, which was jamming it up. Then I noticed that the skimmer didn’t appear to be doing its job either, so I checked its basket and found three plastic bags, along with numerous leaves and pieces of paper. After I got everything cleaned out, the pool did a great job cleaning itself back up.

Otherwise, we’ve been watching Loyal Reader Number Twelve all day while her mom works on people’s taxes. And now I’m going to get to work on creating some new websites. See you tomorrow.

Due to popular demand, here’s another shot of Loyal Reader Number Twelve, looking a little tired at the end of a long Christmas day. I’m sure she’s not the only one who felt that way. She’s just the most expressive one. Photo courtesy of Loyal Reader Number Five.

Blogger seems to be working again! I had checked their Google “Help” group, and I was far from the only one who couldn’t post pictures and couldn’t post blog entries. Darn Blogger.

I took Loyal Reader Number Two’s online quiz this evening. I’m not sure where he got the idea, but it was twenty questions about LRN2, his life, and his likes and dislikes. I’m pleased to report that I got 70% right, giving me high score! It’s the only electronic game I’ve won in I don’t know how long.

I received What About Bob? for Christmas and finally got the chance to watch it the other day. I had been led by the advertising to believe it was going to be one of those Bill Murray movies where he overacts and ruins the show. Fortunately, I was totally wrong. It’s a cute movie with several very funny moments, and Murray comes off as human. I like him when he’s human, like in the not-very-well-liked-but-I-thought-it-was-okay Groundhog Day and the barely-noticed-by-anybody-but-I-really-enjoyed-it The Man Who Knew Too Little (which I believe I received last Christmas!). When he’s not human, as in the absolutely repulsive Caddyshack, he’s horrid.

Anyway. I recommend What About Bob?

I’m frustrated with my inability to come up with websites for the new and improved Gardenville Software (now containing actual software!) and the HRVA. I’m kind of paralyzed by not being able to figure out what I want to do on the technical end of things; chiefly which Content Management System to use. After doing a lot of research, I had decided on Drupal, which is very flexible, very powerful, and not too hard to customize. When I tried to implement it on Larry, though, I found that it doesn’t seem to work on 64-bit Linux installations. It gets about 75% installed and just quits. Now I’m back to square one.

And don’t even get me started on coming up with a cool design for either site. So far, I can’t even come up with a lousy one. I’m hoping Loyal Reader Number Two can give me some ideas, preferrably in the form of color sketches. I want them to look nice and clean and Web 2.0-ish. Soon. Very soon.

And it’s time for bed. Sorry about no post last night – those Wednesday church meetings take a lot of time.

Here’s some Great Art from a few days ago. The boys were driving their RC cars in an under-construction lot late in the afternoon. I had a look in the garage and saw these bags full of junk. I like the colors and hope you do too.

Short post tonight, especially since I used the Wonders of Blogger yesterday (actually, this morning).

Easy rides to work and home today. I think a lot of people are still on vacation this week. No problem as far as I’m concerned except that I’m not one of them. Several of my coworkers were, though. It was like a ghost town around the office, and just about everybody I talked to said they had a real hard time getting up this morning. Me too. As usual during the break, I went to bed way too late and had to get up way to early for my taste.

That’s it today. See you tomorrow.

Here’s a look at the Disney version of the True Spirit of Christmas. That there’s one big tree.

Happy New Year! In spite of the fact that I’m using the Wonders of Blogger today. It was a fine weekend and a great New Year’s day. The Eve was on Sunday, so we didn’t do much except go to church and associated things. We had a nice little family party (I was going to say get-together, but we’re already together, so I guess it should be stay-together, no?) consisting of a few fun games and a bunch of appetizer-type snacks. We toasted the new year with our traditional Martinelli’s and went to bed.

Some neighbors very close to us went pretty extreme with the New Year’s Eve fireworks (link warning: noisy!). They shot numerous really nice ones over about an hour period, I would guess. They weren’t the uber-high-powered ones from commercial fireworks shows, but they were only one tier down. They went up maybe about a hundred feet and produced effects of a proportional size. Other than the very real danger that our house would catch on fire, we thoroughly enjoyed the show. There were also some very loud firecrackers (at least I hope so – they didn’t sound like gunshots to me) coming from an undetermined-but-very-close location. Those Lardville people really know how to party.

I’ve been playing a lot with my new super-cool combination laser pointer and flexible LED flashlight. I got it for four bucks at a Kragen auto parts store. Great Christmas present to myself. It really came in handy over the weekend when we were digging under Loyal Reader Number One’s dashboard. Checking out the link above, I just discovered that the thing’s base is magnetic. Another cool feature! I can stick it to stuff!

Well, the holiday is over. I believe Loyal Reader Number Six is planning to go home on the Second or Third, depending on when a highly-important DVD he ordered arrives. I’ll be sorry to see him go – we’ve enjoyed his visit. I’m sure he’ll also be sorry to go, since Loyal Readers Numbers Five and Twelve are staying behind for a little longer.

Anyway, the holiday is over. Not to worry, though. My next paid holiday is coming right up . . . on May 28th. That’s only six months away. Sigh. Can I retire and start up Gardenville Software yet? Luckily, I at least like the current job, if not the longish commute so much.

Time to go. See you tomorrow. More cute pictures of LRN12 soon, for all you clamoring Loyal Readers.