Welcome to Post #250, wherein nothing much happens

Well, my cold is just about past. I can type normally. I can even tie my own shoes, to some extent.

But I'm still frustrated. The weather has been a bit warm yet for this time of year, in the high 80's, but sunny every day. And I'm dying to be out there in it, getting some Things done.

I've more or less scrapped my plan for a fall garden - I got as far as a little swiss chard, and some carrots that don't want to sprout. I was hoping to do some prep work for next year's theoretical garden expansion, and I would love to plant some more trees before Baby cuts into time and budget a little. But alas, I'm not adept at one-handed gardening. I don't know if my arm strength will be back in time to get much done before cold weather arrives. I was dying for our hot, hot summer to end so I could get back outside and get dirty. But then I guess if current trends hold, it'll be warm into December, so maybe I'll get my chance yet.

But in the meantime, I'm mostly casting about for some way to feel useful or productive, and coming up a bit short. I have found some interesting reading over at The Simple Dollar - I especially liked the homemade laundry soap recipe (thanks for the tip Groovy Green). It's also given me some ideas for tidying up our budget in a number of areas.

My job's been trying to give me an ulcer too -- We've got two brand new clients launching and three more upgrading to new versions of our software. These are major endeavors, and I'm a lynch pin for four of those five efforts. Each client gets its own dedicated team, and so they plan independently, with each team forgetting that they almost always have to involve me, and that I might already be booked. Or overbooked. So I'm suddenly a huge bottleneck as they all start reaching certain critical points at once.

I said "trying" to give me an ulcer. But it's not working. I just don't care enough to get worked up about it. I do as much as I can (even staying up until 4am the other night for a particularly devilish bit), but in the end I won't be a slave to it. Part of my job means working in the middle of the night once in a while. And part of my job means saying, "Sorry, I can't do that right now." Especially when I have a cold, a broken arm, a pregnant wife, and two four-year-olds.

But despite all the challenges and frustrations, I'm not especially down. I'm frustrated, but coping well enough.

Unfortunately, dear readers, since I'm sitting around doing nothing more than I'd like, my blog entries may diminish because I have nothing significant to report.

Or maybe I'll get bored enough to start writing about the interesting things I found under my toenails, the fascinating courtship rituals of houseflies, and a Which Disgraced Professional Athlete Are You personality test...

--