We got in yesterday afternoon around 3 and spent most of the evening doing laundry, watching the Phillies win, and watching the Eagles… do whatever they did, I wasn’t paying attention, the Phillies were on.
Today is food shopping, and then time to go pick up mini-mutt.
It’s Saturday night, and I’m in Virginia Beach.
Sweeeeeet.
The drive down was fine, a little hectic, but that’s to be expected when you’re driving past 300 miles of other people’s beaches to get to yours. All things considered, it was nothing.
When we arrived there were some bumps and bruises. We’ve booked a room with a jacuzzi, but somehow our hotel of choice overbooked (or rather, someone neglected to check out) and we were bumped to a larger room, but with two double beds. That didn’t work for us (plus the shower curtain rail was busted off) and we made our disappointment well known. Fortunately, someone who was in a jacuzzi room checked out about two hours after we got here, and we’re finally settled in our room.
The weather is beautiful and there are people out in the ocean right now below us, but before we can hit the water we’ve got to do things like eat dinner. Right now we’re getting unpacked and organized and we’re listening to the Phillies game online via the high-speed connection. They’re up 8-0 in the 1st 2nd inning. Can’t complain about that. :)
I was just a kid when Charlie Hustle played in Philly, and Rose and Schmidt were neck and neck as the best players that ever lived for most of my life. I remember in detail exactly how crushing it was when Pete Rose was kicked out of baseball, so it’s with no small amount of empathy that I can relate to San Francisco’s Bonds
We figured out what was wrong with the home phone – the plug had somehow disconnected itself from the wall. The difference between Thursday (when I worked) and yesterday (when I was off) was actually having the time to check the wall plug. (And even then I take too much credit – Nighthawk found and corrected the problem.)
Comics are queued up through May 9, which means I can concentrate on other projects for about a week before I dive back into that. I have a good comfortable 5-strip buffer right now and I want to maintain at least that. If somehow I can write another 5 strips next weekend we’ll really be cooking with gas.
The Phils were rained out and the Flyers lost. The crowd in the Buffalo Sabres arena won no bonus points with me by getting all ramped up and cheering when we had a man down on the ice. If Philly fans did that, it’d be all over the sports newswire tomorrow – I hope ESPN and the like play fair and point out Buffalo’s behavior as well.
We’re supposed to get thunderstorms tomorrow (er, today). I like that.
I’ve reached the point of tired where my fingers look fascinating. In fact, they feel kind of numb. Maybe a marathon comic session wasn’t the best of plans.
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.
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.