What a week.
On Monday, Alex had drum lessons.
On Tuesday, I went to the NL City Council meeting to ask the city to include a trail from our neighborhood to the trails network. I was on TV. When I got home, Bill and Debbie were over so we talked to them. I was nervous as hell.
On Wednesday, Megan had piano.
On Thursday, Alex and I went out selling World's Finest Chocolate, a fundraiser for school. We stopped @ Dave and Cindy's and talked to them for awhile. Dave is going to Red Lake in Canada, fishing. He hired Alex to mow his grass while he is gone. Got home ~9, quickly finished Alex's homework and called it a night.
Last night, we went to Fred and Julie's for adult beverages. I got a call from my manager b/c a client needed some CDs overnighted because the files on the FTP site didn't work. Turned out that instead of including an entire folder, only one file had been put on the FTP site. That was corrected and life went on. Megan spent the night at Fred and Julie's with their daughter Erin.
Today, Alex and I need to make at least a start on Dave's yard - I'm contemplating bringing my mower to his house and doing the front while Alex does the back (or vice-versa) but I also think he needs to put the time in mowing to earn the $ he is being paid. From 2-4 is the Todd Sucherman drum clinic and then 5:15 Mass. I am voting for pepperoni pizza for the boys and Chinese for the girls from Hy-Vee for supper.
Tomorrow, Alex and I need to mow our yard.
Upcoming events include camping next weekend in Elkader with my in-laws. The following weekend is the Iowa v. ISU football game. That night, September 12, is the Iowa v. ISU football game and I think I am going to go to the Picador to see Inept. It's an all ages show - would like to take Megan but I don't think it will happen.
The next few weeks are going to be busy @ work too. A big project has to be released by 9/18. I was able to trim my project Bucket List to 63 because I eliminated a bunch of projects that are not progressing through the life cycle. Some are awaiting funding from clients or are assigned to a programmer, but not a high priority. I feel better about my project list now. There's still 19 weeks of work, and there are 18 weeks of 2009. My hope is to - somehow - be caught up one day in 2009, even if it's 4:59 on 12/31/9. I want to have all my backlog of projects done. I know there will be one project that will not be done, so maybe I need to qualify that a bit. I want to have all non-long-term projects completed as soon as possible.
Hopefully, the things I want to continue, continue, and the things I want to stop, stop.
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Showing posts with label Mowing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mowing. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday Night
We drove up to Zhwingle, Iowa, on Saturday morning to get our camper. It was an uneventful drive. After the camper was hooked up, Karen drove through Dubuque to get to Balltown.
After lunch, I mowed my in-law's yard with the riding mower. It was the first time I'd ever driven a riding lawn mower and it was okay. The bouncy ride made my Pepsi flat but other than that, I did okay. I didn't remember how to put the damn thing into reverse so I was always looking forward. After the majority of the yard was done, I used a push mower - a non-self-propelling - to finish. That was more work than I thought it should be.
After that was done, I took a nap on their couch. Then, we ate supper - meat loaf, baked potato, corn, and French Silk pie for dessert - and played Euchre. Louie and I beat the women 3-0. Then we all went to bed.
That's what I wanted to write about.
I slept like a log. It was 10:30 when I got into bed and I slept so soundly. I woke up once, at 5 AM, and then, after that, I didn't wake up until 8:30-ish. It was wonderful.
Today, we went to 10 AM Mass in Balltown, followed by breakfast - French Toast & Holy Cross sausage - and then played Euchre. The men lost.
Then I drove the camper home. After we got home, I decided to mow. Alex thinks mowing the yard is fun (?!?!) so he ended up doing 85% of it. I think he will be doing all of it in the near future.
Tonight was a huge TV night. The season finale of "Deparate Housewives", the season finale of "Survivor", the WWE PPV "Judgment Day", a new "Breaking Bad", and to top it all off, the episode from MASH called "Adam's Ribs" (one of my favorites!). I taped DH, I caught some of Survivor, the results of the PPV are here
After lunch, I mowed my in-law's yard with the riding mower. It was the first time I'd ever driven a riding lawn mower and it was okay. The bouncy ride made my Pepsi flat but other than that, I did okay. I didn't remember how to put the damn thing into reverse so I was always looking forward. After the majority of the yard was done, I used a push mower - a non-self-propelling - to finish. That was more work than I thought it should be.
After that was done, I took a nap on their couch. Then, we ate supper - meat loaf, baked potato, corn, and French Silk pie for dessert - and played Euchre. Louie and I beat the women 3-0. Then we all went to bed.
That's what I wanted to write about.
I slept like a log. It was 10:30 when I got into bed and I slept so soundly. I woke up once, at 5 AM, and then, after that, I didn't wake up until 8:30-ish. It was wonderful.
Today, we went to 10 AM Mass in Balltown, followed by breakfast - French Toast & Holy Cross sausage - and then played Euchre. The men lost.
Then I drove the camper home. After we got home, I decided to mow. Alex thinks mowing the yard is fun (?!?!) so he ended up doing 85% of it. I think he will be doing all of it in the near future.
Tonight was a huge TV night. The season finale of "Deparate Housewives", the season finale of "Survivor", the WWE PPV "Judgment Day", a new "Breaking Bad", and to top it all off, the episode from MASH called "Adam's Ribs" (one of my favorites!). I taped DH, I caught some of Survivor, the results of the PPV are here
The week ahead is crazy busy (after work)
Monday - Alex has a game
Tuesday - Megan has a tour @ her new junior high. I am leaving work @ noon, racing to Regina by 12:30, racing her to the jr high by 1, then working @ home until 2:30, when I'll pick her up again and bring her home.
Wednesday - Alex has a game
Thursday - Nothing. I think the plan is to get the kids' floor cleaned up and/or the basement put back together.
Friday - Up in the air. We have talked about loading the camper and going to Riverside with Mark & Susie for Karen's (free) meal @ the buffet for her birthday. Susie's birthday is also in May so her meal would be free as well.
Saturday - Up in the air. We have talked about going to the CR Kernels game @ 4 for a concert called "The Music of the Eagles," followed by a 6:35 game, followed by fireworks. We may also be playing @ 5:15 Mass for the next to last time until the new church is built. I need to bring my drums home.
Sunday - Up in the air. We have talked about hosting a barbeque, but it is also the weekend of the Blues-n-Barbeque event in the North Liberty park, which I think would be fun to go to.
Monday - Nothing. Probably take a long nap from 12:30-3.
At work, it is going to be an insane 9 days. I have 5 days (5/18-5/22) to get as many and as much documentation for the next update completed. It means trying to 'will' my way through more work than can be reasonably completed in a 40 hour week. After Friday (and Memorial Day), I will begin developing UI changes for at least 39 changes to our software and that number is likely to go up. I need to be done with all of these changes by 4 on Wednesday so I can give the paperwork to my co-worker so she can test them on Thursday and return any changes she has on Friday so I can make those changes and wrap up the entire process.
My goal is to be done with all of that work by Friday, 5 PM. If I am, I plan to take a full two weeks of vacation, starting 6/1 and not returning to work until 6/15. What a glorious break that would be! If I am not done with my work by Friday, I will work a 1/2 day on Monday 6/1 and a full day on Tuesday 6/2. I *really* want to be done with my work on Friday so I can give myself a full two weeks off. That is my goal.
So that's what I have to look forward to this week.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Deal is Officially Communicated
Got this e-mail message from the realtor that is working the house down the street - the one I have mowed all summer.
Paul,
We now have an accepted offer on [the house] and it is scheduled to close November 3, 2008. In order to ensure you are paid, we need a final bill no later than Monday, October 27, 2008. Please account for at least one mowing that final week (of the 27th). Thanks for all your work!
Sounds awesome.
Something else that *always* sounds awesome is Don Dokken and George Lynch:
And if you're going down 80s metal lane, you need to stop @ the Ratt stop. Here's a twist - the Donnas playing it!
Paul,
We now have an accepted offer on [the house] and it is scheduled to close November 3, 2008. In order to ensure you are paid, we need a final bill no later than Monday, October 27, 2008. Please account for at least one mowing that final week (of the 27th). Thanks for all your work!
Sounds awesome.
Something else that *always* sounds awesome is Don Dokken and George Lynch:
And if you're going down 80s metal lane, you need to stop @ the Ratt stop. Here's a twist - the Donnas playing it!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
No More Beer for Nine Months & 12 in 4
I found out tonight that our neighbors Ron and Margaret are expecting a new addition to their family in March! I am excited for them. This will be their 4th child. Margaret is a good neighbor. She likes to drink beer with me in the front yard, in their driveway, on their patio, on our patio, and at any of the houses in our neighborhood. Ron is a good guy too. We had Japanese beetles in our bushes so, tonight, I trimmed them down to nothingness.
At work, I have ~481 hours of work to do for our next software release. That's 12 40 hour weeks. I have 5 and one of those is probably going to be taken away for doing a conversion and then receiving training on some software I use. I *know* there are 4 huge projects that will require a week each. Everything else? I haven't gotten that far. Hopefully, those 4 projects don't take nearly as long as they will so that I can work on other projects. The release has to be out the door 10/1 because a promise was made to deliver a new system by 10/1. I will probably tackle that project first the week of 8/18 - 8/22 since I've been working on designing the User Interface for all the screens. I haven't begun the documentation for it.
At home, I will probably mow the neighbor's yard tomorrow night but I am going to let our yard go another week. I pre-billed for mowing the neighbor's yard but the only part that is long enough to really cut is the backyard. I looked tonight and it is definitely long where the water drains down from up the street. We leave for camping with our college friends on Friday so we will pack up on Thursday night.
Finally, Metallica announced their Death Magnetic CD will be released on September 12th. I put in a request for a promo to review it so I hope that happens. I am excited. Maybe listening to it will help me write documentation faster@ work!
At work, I have ~481 hours of work to do for our next software release. That's 12 40 hour weeks. I have 5 and one of those is probably going to be taken away for doing a conversion and then receiving training on some software I use. I *know* there are 4 huge projects that will require a week each. Everything else? I haven't gotten that far. Hopefully, those 4 projects don't take nearly as long as they will so that I can work on other projects. The release has to be out the door 10/1 because a promise was made to deliver a new system by 10/1. I will probably tackle that project first the week of 8/18 - 8/22 since I've been working on designing the User Interface for all the screens. I haven't begun the documentation for it.
At home, I will probably mow the neighbor's yard tomorrow night but I am going to let our yard go another week. I pre-billed for mowing the neighbor's yard but the only part that is long enough to really cut is the backyard. I looked tonight and it is definitely long where the water drains down from up the street. We leave for camping with our college friends on Friday so we will pack up on Thursday night.
Finally, Metallica announced their Death Magnetic CD will be released on September 12th. I put in a request for a promo to review it so I hope that happens. I am excited. Maybe listening to it will help me write documentation faster@ work!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mowing & Catching Up
I enjoy mowing the yard. I find it gives me time to focus on things I need to think about. There have been many mornings when I have gone into work, energized or curious about some thought that occurred to me while mowing. I run through issues in my head related to work and a lot of times I figure them out while pushing my mower. We purchased a new mower in May (May 2nd I believe) so I'm happy to report the mower is working fantastic. Tonight, I mowed the yard two houses down from us. Our neighbors moved to Oklahoma and now the realtor is paying me $ to mow their yard. I got my first check from them today in the mail, as a matter of fact. That's sweet. So, tomorrow night, I'll send an invoice for tonight and get another check within a week or so. It's awesome.
In other news, Megan's team is the champion of their league. The other team stupidly walked our best batter then hit two of our next batters, then the next batter drove in the winning run.
The team that had beat Alex's team 3 times ended up winning the overall championship of the league. We gave them a tough go of it so it's a credit to our team to have done so well.
I am in North Liberty tonight through Thursday AM. Then we are heading back to Elkader for 5 nights (Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, & Mon) and then we'll come home Tuesday.
I played golf today and shot a 65 for 9 holes. My father-in-law shot a 66. I was ahead by 6 strokes early, then 4, then 3 then 2 then ended up beating him by 1. I needed a good tee shot on the 9th hole and it went where I wanted it to go. Then I was on the green 4 shots later, then putted. Whew!
In other news, Megan's team is the champion of their league. The other team stupidly walked our best batter then hit two of our next batters, then the next batter drove in the winning run.
The team that had beat Alex's team 3 times ended up winning the overall championship of the league. We gave them a tough go of it so it's a credit to our team to have done so well.
I am in North Liberty tonight through Thursday AM. Then we are heading back to Elkader for 5 nights (Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, & Mon) and then we'll come home Tuesday.
I played golf today and shot a 65 for 9 holes. My father-in-law shot a 66. I was ahead by 6 strokes early, then 4, then 3 then 2 then ended up beating him by 1. I needed a good tee shot on the 9th hole and it went where I wanted it to go. Then I was on the green 4 shots later, then putted. Whew!
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