I just wanted to let you all know that I've finished all of the pieces for the project I was working on. I still have to do a small subset of those pieces and put the finishing touches on a handful of other pieces, but as of a few minutes ago I'm done. This silly thing kept me indoors and not going to the gym for a little more than two weeks. I don't like that. Luckily I'll be able to finish up the rest tomorrow and then actually take a day off on Monday. Woohoo!

And I MUST get to the gym. I can't even imagine how disappointed I'll be with what the scale tells me. Ugh.

I've re-read all of my archives. It made for a nice break every now and again. If you get some freetime, go look at what I was doing a year ago. It's fun!

Okay, time for bed so I can get up and meet some lovely young women for breakfast. What a great way to start the day.

Hey! Woohoo! I stumbled upon my archives and have reposted them. You have no idea how happy I am about that.

Hey everyone, I'm still alive and kicking, but I'm working on a deadline, so that's keeping me from blogging. It's also keeping me from sleeping, being social, going to the gym, and I'm sure a couple of other things that I've forgotten about -- luckily, my creditors will remember and remind me.

Because I've been spending so much time at work I've have little to report. Last weekend I managed to escape for a while to see Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns, a documentary about the band They Might Be Giants. It was very good and quite entertaining. I also went to my company picnic. Dr. Chris arrived on Saturday and he came with. We had a good time, but Chris was disappointed that we had to lock the beer away because the Shriner's didn't supply us with the liqour license we asked for. Hmm, that sounds like a weird thing to say, doesn't it? To explain: we held the picnic at a golf club/park that's run by the Shriners. They set up the whole thing, but they forgot to get us the liqour license we requested. Luckily we took it back to the office afterwards and sat around watching Shaolin Soccer in the main conference room and drank beer and ate pizza. It was a rough day.

Now, back to work.

Okay, you've been waiting all week for an update about life and the various happenings that I fill my time with, and it's finally here!

Um, I've been working a lot. Actually, I'm pretty frustrated with what I'm working on. It's a new product line for me and it's much more complicated than my previous line, so it's taking a lot longer than usual and I feel like I have a long way to go before I get everything right. Luckily, I also feel like I'm doing a pretty good job. My real goal is to wrap things up as early as possible on this, so I can go over things with the designer that had this game before me...and then make all sorts of changes based on what he has to tell me. This weekend (really just Saturday) I have to get a ton done because Sunday is the company picnic, and the first three days of next week will be filled (literally) with meetings. I have a lot to get done by the end of the week.

I mentioned the promotion I received earlier in the week. It is definitely a good thing, but I'm already getting extra work because of it. Cool, I'm glad everyone is accepting my new position and treating it as a real thing, but, lemme tell ya', I really don't need extra work right now. Oh, well, keep plugging away. I'm sure I can handle it.

Changing gears entirely; Dr. Chris from Madison is in town for the next couple of weeks. He and I had dinner this evening. I really didn't expect him to be in town until tomorrow, but he apprarently made pretty good time. He left Tuesday morning at about 9:00 AM and arrived Thursday evening around midnight -- and that included a few hours' visit at his sister's and a stop at a large-cat rescue place in Easter Washington. I invited him to the picnic on Sunday, that should be fun. It'll be good to hang out with him and show him around. He's still toying with the idea of moving out here.

So, as I've said, I've been spending a lot of time at work. I need to work on that. Since I've been here so much, I have very little motivation to really knuckle down and get a ton of work done in one sitting. I find myself being distracted with playing games with co-workers, checking friends' blogs, and any number of other things because I think, "I've been here for hours and hours, I deserve a break," but the breaks are starting to really interfere with getting my work done. Maybe if I could actually have nights to myself and weekends off that wouldn't be a problem. Right now, though, it is one. I think Sunday I'll be away from the office for the day, so maybe that will recharge me a bit.

Hmmm, I thought I wanted to go home and sleep, but typing this is really fun. Not necessarily what I'm typing about, but the actual act of typing. For some reason I really enjoy it. This, by the way isn't a new thing for me, I really like to type. I need to find some more of that elusive "free time" I hear so much about and do some writing.

Speaking of writing, it's interesting to see the blogs that Greg and the others from my old job have starting doing. Donna's is always very funny and can't help but wonder if she ate paint chips as a kid.

Too much work and not enought time to relax. That's about all I have to say right now.

Although...I did get a promotion today. Some of you already know about that, but it came through and everything looks like it will be cool.

Now I'm going to sleep. I'll try to get a real update in soon.

Later.

Scott wrote to ask me how the Puppetry of the Penis show was. Here's what I wrote. (Mothers and people who are averse to reading the word penis should steer clear of the next section.)

First off, the show was filled with women. You'd be surprised how interested women are in penis stunts, I know I was (surprised, not interested. I have a penis, so I can do stunts whenever I choose.)

The show was two guys on stage with no scenery except for a large wall behind them that had a cutout in it that framed a large television screen so that everyone could see their tricks without really squinting...which I feel would have been sort of insulting to the performers.

Anyway, they were pretty good showmen, so they did a good job of making it entertaining. The "installations" (as they called the tricks they performed) were funny, but I think they were really more appropriate for people who aren't familiar with how...flexible, elastic, and...resilient the penis and it's surrounding equipment is.

Wow, what a stupid paragraph that was.

Anyway, it was funny, especially to see the reactions of the women around me. They were simultaneously amazed and disgusted by what the performers were doing. Clearly they thought it should be painful or something, but I don't think any of the men thought anything of it. In fact, they were probably all thinking, "All those hours spent messing around with that thing and these guys take it on the road? Somehow I feel cheated."

I think that's all for now.

I've been back a week now and things are pretty much back to normal...really they were pretty much back to normal as of last Friday, but who cares? I've been spending a lot of time at work trying to get and keep everything headed in the right directions. Eh, who wants to talk about work?

I didn't go to the gym Monday because I was so sore from the weekend's workouts. Eh, who wants to talk about the gym?

I watched Say Anything (along with the commentary track, which is very good) and Punch-Drunk Love and I'm now working on the extras included with that DVD. Eh, who wants to talk about movies?

I'm tired of all the music I own. And let me just tell you how freaking amazing that is. I don't think I have a CD collection worthy of true music collectors, but I think I'm doing all right with nearly 800 CDs, but how is it that I have almost no interest in listening to any of the crap that I own? I think I may have to turn on the radio again and see what's on NPR or KEXP again. It's been a while and they're usually good sources of entertainment. Actually, having just been in Wisconsin again, I can state for a fact that it has a superior public radio station. There's something interesting on at every hour of the day. As I drove around Madison a week or so ago it was always on and always excellent. Washington's public radio is only fair to middlin' by my estimation. If you're in Wisconsin, please listen to NPR and think of me out here in the intellectual wasteland that is Seattle. I'm kidding; it's not an intellectual wasteland, not entirely.

So anyway, if you know of any good, new music, please let me know.

If you go to the sidebar (at the left) you'll see an ever-growing list of Blogs, many of which are new. It seems that Greg has infected everyone at my old workplace with the blogging bug. I think five of the people that work there or are married to people that work there have now entered the blogosphere. Sorry about that everyone.

Scott sent an email a while ago with a link to Puppetry of the Penis with the recommendation that I go if/when they came to Seattle. I mentioned it to some people before I left for my trip(s) and while I was gone a group of them picked up tickets. So, tomorrow night I'll be going with about nine other people to watch people (that I've paid good money) play with their penises. Ain't that somethin'? I have no clue how the show will be, but it sounds like it'll be pretty funny.

I received the boxes of goodies that I sent back from my trip to GenCon. There were tons of books and gaming stuff, but the best of the bunch has to be the little monkey-shaped table that Scott gave me for my birthday (which was a couple of weeks ago. And in case you're feeling bad about not giving me anything or even wishing me happy birthday I'm still open whatever fun stuff you might want to send my way.) The table's so cheezy, I love it. I think I need a coffee table just to properly display it.

I was thinking the other day that I might want to move. I like where I am, I'm just kind of...not impressed by it. I don't know if or when I'll act on that idea, but it's popped into my head, so who knows.

Okay, time for dinner and the gym. I must make it part of my routine again. No slacking. Active, not passive.

It's been one of those days. I don't mean that in a bad way, instead, I mean it in the "I came to work to try and get some thing done and have spent the entire day goofing off and getting things other than work done" kind of way. I suppose I should start in the past and bring you all up to date on what's been going on first.

Most of you know most of this, so I'll go fast.

I went to the San Diego Comic Con International a few weeks ago (see the post before last). I returned to Seattle for a day and a half, then hopped a plane to beautiful downtown Indianapolis (does anyone pick up the sarcasm when I say "beautiful downtown *insert name*"?) to go to GenCon. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. I have to admit that I prefer Milwaukee to Indy, but hey, they're not going to change it back on my account (the bastards!). Nothing too exciting happened at GenCon, but I did get to visit with friends that I haven't seen in a while. I wish I'd been able to spend more time with Andrew and Brian, but that didn't work out. I may have to go visit Brian soon. I hear Florida is nice, even if too much sun makes you stupid.

After GenCon I caught a ride back to Wisconsin with Seth, Tim, and Matt from Human Head and arrived at my parents late Sunday night. The next few days were spent visting with my sister's and their families, my parents, and my grandma. It was a good time. Very relaxing. It was great to see all of my nephews again. My little sister even came up with a great gift for she and our older sister to get me for my birthday -- my first pair of Birkenstock's! I've wanted some for a long time, but I would never buy them for myself. I'm wearing them now and I have been all week.

Later in the week I went up to Madison to celebrate my birthday with my friends, but I got horribly ill the day before my birthday, so no partying for me! In fact, for a day or two, it felt like no living for me. Wow, was that horrible. I even went to an "urgent care" place that first morning and got myself some amoxicillin. The doctors (I've gone to three different ones with this particular malady) have no clue what it is, but that seems to take care of it. I think I'm case #0 of the newest supervirus. Anyway, I didn't get to get all crazy on my birthday (like I ever really do?) but I had a dinner with 13 of my nearest and dearest friends followed up by some fun conversation at the Memorial Union.

Oh, this weekend was also the first time I met my ex-girlfriend Kim's husband. He's a very nice guy -- even if he is British and speaks a completely outdated form of English -- and I haven't seen Kim so happy in many years. I'm very happy for them.

After I was mostly recovered from my illness I was able to do some more visiting, but I missed out on some people I really wanted to see, including Greg and my other friends at LSS. Say "hi" for me Greg, I'd hoped to make it for a lunch, but my sickness threw all my plans for a loop.

I went back to Burlington on Monday and celebrated my birthday with my family. Again, lots of fun. I like my family. Oh, and I received $75 to spend on gifts for myself. Mom, let everyone know that I went and picked up five DVDs today; Casablanca, Say Anyting, Punch-Drunk Love, Near Dark, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They actually cost a total of $99 dollars, but I figure that five DVDs for $24 is a pretty good deal.

I had to get back to Seattle to get to work on my first set of the game line I'm working on now, so I flew out on Wednesday. That was an adventure in itself, but who really wants to hear bad travel stories? We all have them, they're like uncomfortable underwear.

I've been back a few days now and I'm busy playing catch-up with email and trying to get things organized again so I can dive into the project I came back to work on. Which brings us to today. I cam in to work on that set, but ended up sending emails and catching up on things online. I also shopped for DVDs, did laundry, had dinner with some friends (mmm, sushi how I've missed you), and first thing this morning I went to the gym. This is actually a pretty good story for people who aren't currently going to the gym. I went for the first time in a month (yikes) and figured I'd start slow because I wasn't in the swing of things because of the long break. So, I warmed up for five minutes, stretched, did my lunges on the track, lifted on six different machines (nothing major, my least intensive workout), and then hopped on the treadmill. After about four minutes on the treadmill my vision began to blur and I knew if I didn't stop I'd fall over. I stopped. Wow, was I in rough shape. I sat for a few minutes and then decided to leave and pick things up again tomorrow. I think that's a pretty good story for people who aren't working out because it shows what a month of inactivity does and how it can affect you. But it also shows you not to go overboard when you start working out. Start slow. I have to laugh when I look back at when I started three years ago and I was doing 25 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes walking. Now, well, now, you don't even want to know what I do on a normal day at the gym. And I lost 50 pounds that first year. Ah, the good old days.

I'm hopping around, but last night I went over to the new apartment, house, actually, of some friends of a friend and had a good time checking out their new place and visiting until midnight. One of the group plays guitar and sings. She's very good. I can't wait to hear her when she's a bit more sober. Anyway, we all had a good time, then I went back to my place and watched The Green Mile.

Now I'm going to take off and go to bed so I can come in tomorrow and actually do some work...after I go to the gym. Gotta get back into the swing of that. Must watch my food, too.