Tax season is over!

Woof.

Now that tax season is done (for everyone except six lunatic states that are ending it today), there’s the gradual slowdown at work, and a chance to breathe. Less overtime means more comic. Got one up on time today – and a fairly lame-duck one up for Saturday. (You’ll either love it or hate it. Probably hate it. I think it’s hilarious.) Scripts are starting to flow inside my pathetic brain as well. It’d be nice to build a buffer again.

Still have some knitting to finish — and fast — but I’m trying to limit my knitting to during the Phillies games, since I won’t be drawing comics during that timeframe anyway.

Of course, catching up on my sleep and eating healthy and all that play a role in the grand scheme of things too, so I’m starting to do all that again.

News: all JessieDog’s blood work came out normal, so for now we’re going with a diagnosis of “old dog”. I can live with that. Little runt better not wake me at 7 am tomorrow because she’s thirsty and can’t open the bedroom door though.

Speaking of sleep, I’m off to do just that.

Every day is a new adventure.

We’re lacking comics, sorely.

Fortunately, there are so few people reading this thing anyway, that I haven’t heard any complaints. You’re welcome to complain if you’d like. It won’t get you far, but it’s nice to hear another voice in the wilderness.

Nighthawk’s been diagnosed with diabetes, which was a bit more than either of us were ready to handle. It’s led to a bit more silence on the ‘net than I usually exercise. Some days a person just doesn’t feel like reading half the internet and commenting on it. I prefer to do my worrying in private and wait until I have something concrete to report before worrying everyone else.

It’s also led to doctor’s appointments, researching, asking around, gathering information, and most of all being there for each other — all of which takes precious time.

In addition, it’s tax season, which means almost nothing to you if you don’t work in the financial industry. But where I work, tax season is the functional equivalent of the Christmas shopping season for retail, with tax weekend playing the role of Black Friday. The metaphor is especially fitting this year because Easter and Passover are layered on top of April 15th (17th this year) and that means work, work, and more work. So interspersed among the medical appointments and research and general freakiness have been tickets and calls and overtime, and more overtime, and oh, some overtime.

Case in point: our department was open today, from 8 to 7, despite the fact that it’s a company holiday. I’ll be a member of the skeleton staff working tomorrow as well. (Had I known about the health circus, I wouldn’t have volunteered months ago, but alas, my crystal ball is still waiting to be RMA‘d back to the manufacturer.)

Speaking of hardware returns, did I mention that the file server has been nothing but one big technical glitch for close to a month? Fortunately, I don’t use it to produce the comic or the blog. Unfortunately, it is where I run all my backups, and where I pay all the bills, so life is interesting, as usual.

But at least the dog’s healthy, right? Well, no. She was shipped to the vet for day camp today while I worked because she’s sleeping a lot. A whole lot. Like when we came home on Wednesday at noon she didn’t bother coming downstairs to greet us until 7 pm. And any time I have to ask my husband to go find out if the dog has died twice in one day, it’s time to worry. The x-rays of her lungs and heart came back clean so now we’re waiting on the blood test results to determine if she’s sick or just really old and really lazy.

Oh, and I still have that knitting project to finish.

There are rays of sunshine throughout all of this, mind. The hardware repairs have prompted some upgrades. The diabetes explains a lot, and means Nighthawk will feel better than ever once it’s treated. Seven hours of overtime tomorrow mean I get to work in relative peace and quiet. Tax season is almost over. I get to dye eggs tomorrow. The Phillies look like they’re going to win 3 in a row after sucking like a giant Electrolux when the season began. And when it’s all said and done, I should have a chance to just sit back and relax.

Is it deja vu if you don’t remember it?

It’s April, and we’re having one hell of a thunderstorm outside. Odd.

Even odder is the deja vu. I’m sitting on the sofa knitting a blanket as a gift for some friends. (The blanket, by the way, is responsible for the lack of comic tomorrow. I’m trying to finish the blanket before they finish the baby.)

I don’t have a visual memory stored of my grandmother knitting, but we lived with her until I was 11, so I’m sure I saw her do so at some point. She’s the reason I wanted to learn to knit. Somehow I feel closer to her when I’m working with my hands. And she was an avid storm watcher, sitting on the porch watching the lightening and listening to the thunder.

So I’m sitting on the sofa watching the storm through our sliding doors, knitting, and thinking of her. I feel like I’ve been here before – or maybe it’s just that I feel like I’ve come home.

Unggh.

  • Work is Under Construction, and has been Loud. Life from 5pm on is a headache in progress.
  • The server upgrade to allow the play of Oblivion went badly. Graphics cards are being RMA’d, fingers are being crossed, RAM chips are being priced.
  • The “service engine soon” light came on in Fluffy this evening, so we dropped her off at the local garage to find out what’s what. That means that instead of working 10:30am to 7pm, it looks like I’m carpooling in with the husband in the morning and working 7am to 7pm until I at least know what’s wrong.
  • The Internet’s been up and down like a jackrabbit on a pogo stick. I think it’s actually our router acting up and could be related to the problems with the server but no guarantees. I wanted to do some scouting for some reference pics for Tuesday’s comic but alas, no freakin’ internet.
  • More of the same tomorrow; do not be shocked by continuing radio silence.