Bread Crumbs

What’s on the iPod: Sea of No Cares by Great Big Sea

Super day yesterday. I accomplished much more than I thought I would, and I still had time left over at the end of the day to relax. That’s almost unheard of – time to relax in December. I had my shopping done five days ago. I’m more than a little ridiculously punctual, so this year I decided to put it to good use. My shopping, in my mind, HAD to be done before the 10th. The incidentals are always there, but the main stuff is finished.

I roughed in an article and found some great statistics to back everything up. I did have a little troubles with my digital recorder software. I like my Olympus, but the software that comes with it is heinous. I’ve reinstalled it twice in two years, the second time by finding the file somewhere on the Internet. It will show you all the folders, but the minute you try to access them, they disappear. Hateful. No command in the menu bar to “open.” Who the hell designs that on purpose?

That means I have either use up battery power (no adapter – again, who the hell?) or use Windows Media Player, which is like steering an elephant through a mini mart. It’s enough to make me consider replacing this thing for one with acceptable software. And Olympus has known about this issue for a while, according to what I’m reading on the Internet.

I managed to get one project completed and another one started for the regular client. They handed me plenty to keep me busy through the holidays. Then I worked on something else that, when finished, will boost the income. I have two such projects in the works, so hopefully one or both will be successful. And they’re fun to work on.

We were in the car the other day when he mentioned something about an article on a website and how he didn’t quite believe it to be true – too sensationalized and one-sided. That’s all it took. I went off on a rant about content farms that must have been bad. He tapped me on the leg at some point and said, “I think we’ve gone over this before.” I’m becoming predictably boring.

I’m also set for my train ride. I’m taking the train back to western PA for my daughter’s graduation this weekend. Let me brag a moment – she’s finishing a semester early with a major in Communications Media and a minor in English. She’s aced her finals to this point (and scored 425 out of 400 on her senior project). She’s more frenetic about grades than I am about deadlines and punctuality. I’m proud as hell, with both my kids, because they’ve chosen their paths and found their happiness. That’s all we can ask for.

My book for the train is Gilian the Dreamer by Neil Munro, and it’s a poetic book that I’m enjoying getting lost in. That should keep me busy for the six-hour trip. No reading time the rest of the trip, as her graduation is the next day and our ride home is Monday in her car. I loaded the Christmas music on the iPod per her request, so there will be plenty of loud singing and attempts at harmonizing.

Today is work on the article and the special projects. I want to have the article completed this week so I can relax even more over the holiday. The other work is dependent on folks getting back to me, so the bulk of it won’t be started until the new year.

What’s on your desk today?