journal for 2002-11-09
hiatus
So, I’ve been around. I’ve just be loafing for a variety of reasons.
Work has been nuts. One of the program-writing people from Wales was over, so I spent a lot of time working with her to get specs ready and stuff discussed. Meanwhile, I also had all that crap that I mentioned last time to get done. As far as that goes, I finished work on everything but the training system.
Well, “finished” is probably the wrong word. Instead, I got everything ready for beta testing. I’m hoping it all goes well, because I need to stop coding and get some procedural documents written. Code is great, but I need to establish a project framework for all of these projects before they spiral back out of control.
I’ve spent some good money lately. Last weekend, we decided to finally get the bed we’ve wanted for a good line time—which is to say a bed, not a specific bed. On Friday we drove down to KoP and got some pizza at Uno’s. It was good, although possibly a little runnier than I needed, in the cheese department. Anyway, it was good to have some pizza with pesto, which I used to get a lot.
From there, we swung back up to Norristown and IKEA. We got a bed frame, some hangers, and two nightstands. We’d been worried about how well the bed would fit in our wagon, but it fit perfectly—it went from the rear hatch to the windshield, basically. We got it home and assembled, and it was good.
On Saturday we went mattress shopping and bought a queen-sized pillow-top King Koil. I liked it a lot, and Gloria was iffy. So far, I still like it and she’s still undecided. We both agree it’s kind of like sleeping on a sofa. The mattress guy couldn’t get my card to work, despite numerous swipings. I called my bank’s “phone bank” line, and not only verified that I had enough but also transferred $500 more into the checking account. It still wouldn’t swipe, so we headed out to an ATM and withdrew $460, then paid the rest on the card. My sneaking suspicion is that either I have a stupid daily limit or the guy didn’t know how to use the swiper—when we got back, someone else was doing it for him.
On Sunday, we bought sheets. We nearly didn’t get them, because they didn’t have the size and color combination we wanted, and they suggested that they wouldn’t have it in the back, because it was “a new selection.” Still, the computer said they did, and the clerk went off to search. We went home with sheets.
The total bed package came to around $900. I had planned for more, expected less, and now think that it was an A-OK price. We used to have a mattress on a box spring on the floor. The new bed looks much betters, feels much better, and is bigger. Even before the mattress was delivered, we’d put the old mattress on the frame, and it was much better in appearance and feel. The nightstands are great, too. I haven’t yet tried reading in bed with a book on the nightstand, but I’m guessing that will work out just fine.
I also picked up a PS2 and some games. Speakeasy had some promotion where new orders got a free PS2 or (ha!) XBox. I finally convinced my dad that AOLDSL was never going to happen/work, and that he should go with Speakeasy. He did, it worked, and I got the PS2. Sweet deal!
It was delivered on Wednesday, and Gloria took me to the mall for the acquisition of some games and stuff. I picked up a memory card (I can’t believe it was $25!) and a controller, and games: Rez, Frequency, Super Bust-a-Move 2, FantaVision, ICO, and Final Fantasy Tactics. They are all pretty sweet. Frequency, in particular, is awesome. I’m getting to think that the DualShock 2 controller isn’t the worst thing ever, but I haven’t found a game, yet, that makes serious use of the dual analog. ICO comes closest.
We’re probably going to go malling again to pick up some Christmas foo. I also need a PSX memory card (grr!), and I might look at more cheap PSX games. Parappa!
Thursday night Gloria and I went out with The Boss and his girlfriend, and it went swimmingly, I think. We had some fajitas and other tasty food, and discussed movies and politics and other non-boring things.
That’s about all that’s gone on in the last week, anyway. Or, it’s all I can recall. As for Nano, I basically gave up during the first weekend. I had way too much work to do, and I didn’t want to get stressed about too many things at once. I got stressed about work and relaxed by playing Frequency. I can write a novel some other time.