Life, and Stuff

I've had a lot of things I've wanted to write about lately, but things have been busy enough that none of them have come to full fruition. So I thought I'd just blog about life and stuff.

The holidays were good. We managed not to break the bank and still really go all out, since we didn't start paying for health insurance until January and had extra money. Kiddo's favorite presents were (in this order) the toy camera he coveted, a dinosaur that roars and walks, and his "exercise bicycle". We only had one dud present, a Sesame Street "laptop" for baby. He's much more interested in doing whatever Kiddo is doing! The kids have discovered PBS online on their computer, thanks to the Easy Link 'net launchpad, and Kiddo will even eschew Word World, his absolute favorite show, to play rhyming games with Grover online.

I got Hubby Madden 2008 for his Christmas game and it's given him nothing but trouble. It took him 10 days to get support with for a known bug that was causing it not to run. We've had problems installing EA games before, although they're fabulous when you get them going, but nothing like this. I suspect they make them for the PS3 or something and then convert them to PC. I'd link you to their site but it seems to be down again.

Me, I got new toys. Hubby is very lucky, I love getting appliances! He bought me a Cuisinart griddle, which is something I've been really coveting but didn't actually need. I also got a carpet steamer, and the family is tolerating me requiring them to pick things up and move furniture, because it's just so cool to not have to go rent a Rug Doctor and do the whole house before your 24 hours is up. Now every time food hits the floor I think "It's okay, I have a carpet steamer!"

What else.... Kiddo has started a new school. The phenomenal teacher he had the last few months at his old school moved back to Florida as her husband left the military after 10 years. We had a lot of minor frustrations with the old school, mostly having to do with young, inexperienced teachers and a lack of communication, and a final "communication incident" combined with Miss Lily leaving equaled me having darn well enough. I found a "Kindergarten Readiness" program that's curriculum based and has very small classes, both of which Miss Lily (who has a degree in Special Needs and is pursuing her Master's Degree) said Kiddo really needed to progress. She made huge progress with Kiddo, and this really feels like the next step. His first day was Wednesday. This morning I told him "Time to get ready to go to school!" he said "I don't want to go to school. I want to go to my NEW school!" I'm terribly pleased, and I'm not stressed about Kiddo's preschool education for the first time in forever. He goes three full days a week now, so I have a little more time to get projects done. Like blogging!

My work has been busy, the Developers at Allakhazam have been adding features to the EQ2 site that have changed the back end for us a bit but are resulting in much, much better data, more accurate and way more of it. It's taking a little transition time to get it all settled out, but defiantly worth it. We are finally able to focus on something besides updating antiquated item data, and we're finally brushing off some long neglected projects.

The laugh of the week goes to my friend Coyote over at Ten Ton Hammer. For a multitude of reasons the Bat Blog is the most hilarious thing I've read in ages. If you haven't read Coyote before, he's irreverent, funny, and set slightly sideways to most of us. The closest comparison I have is Dave Barry, but Coyote is definitely not a copycat. Coyote has a penchant for comics, video games, zombies, and breasts. Yet he's a family man, a brilliant geek, and (having met him) and honest-to-goodness gentleman. Take a look!