It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? In the absence of epic new plans for the coming year what does “ready” mean? I’m not panicked about the coming year, if that’s what she meant. I’m not planning to do anything for which I am not ready, too.

This bit was, of course, a bit of a non sequitur.

Basically, I want to wish everyone that reads this a happy new year. Be well, be happy. Hopefully your coming year is as good as my previous one.

So, in response to some vigourous prodding last night, I felt it was time to dust this off and get back to keeping people apprised of my life.

Here’s the skinny, since… holy shit! November 6! It’s been almost four weeks!

Since then, I have:

• Travelled to the Dominican Republic (where we were all amiss in not posting to Morruz)
• Dislocated my shoulder… again. That sucked. Worse? I was just playing volleyball in a pool, not even doing anything interesting. Funny thing is, though, when I went to a medical supply store to get some foam to pad the horrid sling I took home with me, the lady running the store told me that my injury seems to be quite common in volleyballers, at least anecdotally.
• Got my performance review at work, for which the term “glowing” might be an understatement.

And you wonder why I don’t post? My life is dull, dull, dull.

It hasn’t even been that interesting of a time, politically. I’ve kept my eyes on the news, but there’s been little out of the ordinary to spark thought or discussion, either north or south of the border.

Um… I’ve read some good books, lately. Is that interesting?

Expect more later. I’m just barely awake, and Char just fed me coffee.

I love you all

Squash is responsible for a sore forearm and back, biking for sore legs, and disc golf for a sore shoulder. My mind is awash with details I never knew about good friends and family, which is great — I’m going to get Char to forward me the emails that she assembled into the fantastic party game that we played, and I intend to read over them all.

Thank you all so very much, those of you who were able to come out last night. I had a great time, and it was arguably the best birthday e-var!1!!bang

Oh, the details were mostly good. I had a good trip with Char, during which she either slept or was happy to chat with me continuously about a whole host of interesting things (PolySci == good conversation). However, the details — from some social awkwardness at the wedding itself (on my part, sadly) to some bad news from home (ask Char; it’s her story to tell) meant that the trip turned out to be less happy than I’d hoped.

I wish it had been more cheery, but I suppose I still enjoyed the trip; the company was excellent, and even if the details were bad it doesn’t mean that there was no value in it.

I’ve got just about everything taken care of, on this end; I’ve finished (as far as I’m going to) my paper for Cmput 401, I’ve got most of the written assignment for 414 finished, and a deferral on my 3000-word essay to a week after I get back.

On the work front, I’ve been putting in a bit of time off the books because I wanted to get some coding done, which wasn’t happening with all of the container management stuff I was doing. Oh, it pays the bills, but struggling with IBM’s toolset was one of the least fun things I’ve ever had the … pleasure … of doing.

So, that’s it.

I’m taking one of the few real vacations I’ve had in my life, since leaving home. Oh, I’ve been unemployed, and I’ve been off for a few days here and there, but this type of thing is rare, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to travel with Char; we’ve never done this together. Wish us luck!

Yeah, I’m still here.

I’ve been working on school a lot, and work — I’m pretty stressed these days, and my time is at a premium, so I haven’t been writing as often as I want to. I’ll try to remedy that, but this won’t be the post that does

To all of my assorted friends, book time while you can!

Matt is… interesting.

No, seriously. There aren’t many people with whom I can disagree, and come out of the discussion in a mood for compromise. This isn’t a unique thing, either, constrained to a single topic. I like the opportunity to debate things that have meaning and importance, and then to jump seamlessly to a scatological punfest.

Which is a kickass bonus, too: Puns. Literacy is a gift wasted on those that do not use their powers for evil. Matt’s not one of those.

He, and his wife Amy (who is bound to end up considered in this manner at some future, more energetic time) are universally welcoming, enjoyable company, always a pleasure to feed or be fed by, whenever our respective crowded schedules can be made to get together (Aside: Farscape?! )

It’s a good, complete package: Sci-fi geek, gamer, music maven. Literate, articulate, and sociable. I like to think we have enough in common to weather our minor differences.

The former has been an introduction to the general concepts of LDAP; I’ve had to get at least a bit familiar with it in order to put together a critical piece of functionality for our client. The latter, well, I took the hard part of the project, as is my wont, and it’s been nifty, getting it all working.

So, there’s that.

Plus papers..

Plus presentations…

Plus finals, upcoming…

Mind you, none of this is on the scale of Simon’s workload. Congrats on the thesis presentation!

• Finish the assignment that was due last friday
• Finish the assignment that is due this friday.
• Do some real work on my project so as not to let down my team.
• Catch up on my paid work.

That doesn’t sound like too much fun. On the other hand, I can pull up my pants easier, now

Somewhere in there, however, I really need to find some way to thank Char for the fantastic way she’s helped me out throughout the first week of my slingery, when I really couldn’t do much for myself. Waking up at 7:30 is not something she enjoys, and she did it for me.

I just learned how to pack a parachute.

I’ve jumped from a plane twice in the last five days (yeah, not too much).

I’m turning in my second assignment of the school year.

I’ve survived my first ever round of layoffs.

I’ve got to start my project work.

I’m laying on a couch typing this.

I’m going to eat chili this weekend in the company of geeks.

I’m going to miss Char while she’s away this week.

I ate a lot of turkey last night.

I wish I was working full time.

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I’m trying to do more work around the house, partly because Char’s taking a class plus working full time… well, she was working full time. She goes back to her sane schedule this coming week, which will mean I’ll get to see more of her. The other reason I want to do more around the house is simple: I’ve had it pretty good for a long time, but as long as Char’s working to pay for our lifestyle there’s no reason she should have to carry the housework load. I acknowledge that there’s always going to be a gap, because there are things that I care about that she does not, and vice versa, but I’m trying to narrow it down some.

In other news, I have a reasonable hope that I’ll be getting jump number 22 in tomorrow, weather permitting… which it seems not to be. Damn.

We’ll see.

Not a lot new — getting ready to end the internship, mainly, and return to the academic life, poverty and all. I’ll be part time anyway, but it’ll be interesting, being back on the grind.

Saw Valerie for lunch today, she’s in town only briefly for the Folk Festival, and then she’s off to Sechelt, near my cousins’ place, where she has a short-term teaching position. All over the place, she is. I miss having her around for epic theological debates, but life moves us all, I suppose.

How’s everyone else? Anyone care to touch base, let me know what’s going on in your lives?

I collected their deposits today, and tomorrow I head out to the drop zone to drop them off. The best part? Because I’ve had my next ten jumps covered by a birthday gift, I can afford to hand off the discount I get from this to two good friends who otherwise could not afford to go again, for a few good reasons.

So this is a win all around.