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.